Black With a Hint of Red
by Chronic Potterphile
Summary: Rose Weasley is in her fifth year at Hogwarts. Love is in the air, but so is exam fever; and Hogwarts is heavy with a weird combination of nervous cheesiness. But isn't this the story every year? It's normal. It's right. And then everything goes wrong. A student— Rose's classmate dies unexpectedly one day, and investigations prove that it's homicide... committed by another student.
1. Looming Danger

**Story Notes:**

I would like to thank isadora duncan and babewithbrains for their help with the title of this fic. Thank you so much, guys! :) **The primary pairing in this fic is Rose/Scorpius, but this is a mystery, and will focus less on romance. Thank you!**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe. I'm just borrowing it for a bit of fun. :) All original characters, however, are mine.

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**Author's Chapter Notes**:

Hey all! This was written almost two years ago, and may seem juvenile in parts, but it was my first next-gen fic. So... I hope you guys enjoy it. Reviews will me much appreciated, and responded to (guests can find their responses at the end of the chapter, a day or two after reviewing).

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**1. Looming Danger**

Abby Clarke tossed about in her bed, praying that the terrible headache would vanish. It was just too much: her head wouldn't stop pounding and she was very sleepy, yet unable to sleep. Finally, she sat up on her bed and buried her face in her hands for a while, wondering what to do.

She could see the first rays of the sun through the window right beside her. She got out of bed and decided to get ready for the day. She was a fifth year Gryffindor at Hogwarts, which meant that this was OWL year and she couldn't afford to cut even a single one of her classes. But these health issues that she seemed to be having were really getting to her nerves. It was about time that she did something regarding this problem. Today, she would definitely go to Madam Pomfrey and get something for all the discomfort she seemed to be going through in the last few days.

Discomfort… well, it was an understatement to what she was feeling. She was extremely tired all the time but every night when she went to bed, there was invariably either a headache or a stomach ache that kept her awake. Mornings started with a terrible bout of nausea almost always followed by an episode or two of vomiting. And then the nausea stayed through the day. It only seemed to vanish at night while she tried to sleep. But sometimes, it kept her awake through the night, too. Apart from that, she had started to develop cravings for weird kind of food.

Abby walked to the bathroom and shut the door, sitting on the floor and waiting for the nausea to take over as usual. At fifteen she was a tall, thin girl with deep green eyes and shoulder length straight blonde hair. A few pimples were scattered here and there on her face and she considered herself quite good looking otherwise. But then she had noticed lately that her face had grown quite pale. The pallor seemed to become worse everyday. She guessed that it was due to her recent ill-health.

The attack of nausea came and Abby took deep breaths, groaning a little. Her boyfriend, Ian, was worried for her like hell. He had been insisting that she visit Madam Pomfrey for a while now, but she had assured him that it was not that serious. How concerned Ian was for her! He always took care of her and comforted her through the mystery illness she seemed to be having. She loved him so much…

Ian… He was in Gryffindor like Abby and was tall and lanky with brown eyes and brown curly hair. He was, in Abby's eyes, the handsomest boy she had ever come across. And the smartest, too. He was very good with what seemed like every single subject and if it hadn't been for Rose Weasley, Abby's extremely intelligent roommate, he would have been at the top of the class.

He was the best. He was wonderful. Abby could never think of anyone whom she loved more than him. She was ready to do anything for him. Ian… Ian… Ian. Now she was crazy about him too— especially since her relationship with Ian had gone a step ahead.

_They were both in Ian's room, talking animatedly about Quidditch— well, Ian talked animatedly, while Abby listened. Ian played on the Gryffindor team as a Chaser and he was pretty good on the Quidditch pitch too. Abby knew how much he loved Quidditch, so she would sit with him after every match and let him go on about the throws and catches and match statistics. She didn't care as long as talking about it made him happy. She had become selfless long ago._

Presently, Abby looked lovingly into Ian's eyes as he talked on and on and before she knew it, she had leaned in and kissed him. She pulled away, but he put his hands on her cheeks and drew her back, kissing her fiercely. She kissed him back and while doing so, she began to unbutton her shirt. He pulled away this time, but just for a moment to ask her a question. "Do you want to do it?"

"Yes," she whispered, undoing the next button. She was a virgin and so was he but somehow, both of them knew how to proceed.

He nodded and drew the curtains of his four poster bed shut. Then he pulled his t-shirt over his head, after which she pulled him back in a kiss, feeling his hands move around and slowly unhook her bra…

Abby felt the nausea peak and crawled to the toilet, bending over and starting to retch. As she threw out her dinner, she wondered if what Rose had said to her could really be true. The latter had quietly handed Abby a Muggle pregnancy test the previous evening and explained to her that Abby's symptoms were very close to that of pregnancy. But Abby couldn't see how she was pregnant. True, she had had unprotected sex with Ian, but that had been merely two or three days after the last day of her period. Chances that she was pregnant were really slim. Then again, Abby was at least a week late for her period this month. So… could pregnancy be it?

She got up to her feet unsteadily, flushed the toilet and brushed her teeth weakly. She was getting worse daily, and this had to be put a stop to before it grew serious. Yes. Tonight, she'd go to Madam Pomfrey and get herself treated.

* * *

_Pi pi peee!_

Pi pi peee!

Rose Weasley sat up on her bed and yawned, before switching off the alarm. She rubbed her eyes and stretched. Then she reached over to her shelf and extracted a few books. The OWLs were just months away and Rose had a nagging fear that she would never be able to finish studying everything before the exams if she didn't put in some extra hours of revision. She arranged her books on the bed and walked to the bathroom to find it occupied. She sighed: when would Abby go to Madam Pomfrey with her symptoms? Knocking on the door, Rose called out her roommate's name: "Abby?"

Brianna, her other roommate, groaned from her bed. "Could you keep the volume low, Rosie?"

"Sorry, Bri," said Rose. She went back and sat on her bed, waiting for Abby to finish using the bathroom and staring out of the window as she did so. The feeble sunrays were battling with the gloomy skies, and being defeated each time. Rose shivered a little, even though the temperature was pleasant enough. Her gut instinct told her that today was not going to be a good day. Ten minutes later Abby walked out of the bathroom, toweling her hair after a bath. She smiled at Rose before pulling out her robes from her trunk and drawing the curtains of her four poster to change.

Rose took some of her clothes and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and picking up her toothbrush. In the mirror in front of her, she could see a redhead stare back at her. She was an average-heighted teenager with long, curly, fiery red hair, blue eyes and a freckled face. Half the people who knew her parents seemed to think she looked like her mother, but the other half swore she looked like her father. All in all, she looked an equivalent mixture of both her parents. But putting aside looks, she always thought that she herself was a mixture of both of them. She had certainly inherited her mother's brains, but with that came her father's lazy attitude towards academics. It took her great amounts of effort to discipline herself and utilize her brains: yet, she mostly studied in the last minute before her exams, somehow managing to stay at the top of the class even then— it seemed more like luck than anything else.

Sighing, she pulled off her nightclothes and proceeded into the shower, drawing the curtain around her. She was a Prefect (much to her mother's delight and Uncle George's disappointment) and there was always the special bathroom but she only preferred to go there in the evenings. She turned the tap on and let the warm water from the shower drench her completely, enjoying every drop… drowning herself in the freshness…

Then without warning, Rose heard a bloodcurdling scream from her dormitory. And the voice belonged to Brianna.


	2. A Tragic Beginning

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Hello, everyone!

Here comes chapter two!

I'd like to thank my lovely Beta, theblacksister/ TheBlackSister for her help. You rock, Alice! :)

People, do R/R. It makes me squee. :D Guest reviews will have their response at the end of the chapter a day or two after the reviews are moderated. And before I forget; this story has nine chapters. :) And the first chapter is called 'Looming Danger'. Forgot to add that there. Oops.

I'll update as soon as I can, but am quite busy right now, honestly, and my shoulders are killing me, so let me see how fast I can bring in the next chapter.

Meanwhile, do take a minute to have a look at the cover image. I have Emma Stone as Rose, Alex Pettyfer as Scorpius and Logan Lerman as Albus. Speaking of Albus, I realise that I've written him as 'Al' in the narrative, and I'd change that if it weren't a pain (Find-replace converts words like 'typical' into 'typicAlbus' and I cba to go looking through every mention of him and change it), so I'm really sorry about that. My only excuse is that I was stupid, and often frown upon my nineteen-year-old self.

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**2. A Tragic Beginning**

Rose's heart missed a beat. Why had Bri screamed? She turned off the shower and dried herself at top speed, slipping on the bathroom floor as she dressed. However, when she got out, everything in the dormitory seemed to be fine. Brianna was fishing for something in her trunk and Abby was applying kohl to her eyes by the mirror.

"What happened just now?" Rose asked, confused.

"Bri had a nightmare, nothing else," said Abby exasperatedly, admiring her reflection. She placed the kohl stick in the stand along with the other eye and lip pencils. She was obsessed with it— understandably, as it was a gift from Ian.

"Hey! It was a terrible nightmare!" said Brianna, facing the two of them with her hands on her hips. She was a tall, slim girl of fifteen with brown hair and light eyes.

Rose snorted, eyeing Abby's kohl stick fleetingly. "Bri, you do know that you shake up the planet with your screams, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of me! Let me see how you react to a nightmare like that," said Brianna, returning to ransacking her trunk.

As Rose packed her bag according to the time-table, Abby picked up hers. "Will you come to the Great Hall for breakfast, Rosie?"

"Not right now," said Rose. "I'll study for a while before we have to go for classes. And I sure do see an improvement in your health— you seem to be eating out of free will!"

"Well, I thought staying hungry could just cause unnecessary complications," Abby shrugged. A blush grew on her cheeks and she lowered her voice so that Brianna wouldn't be able to hear. "I'm planning to take that… test you bought me."

Rose walked over, placing her hand on Abby's shoulder. "Don't worry about anything, okay? If it is positive, we will all be here for you. Me, Bri, Ian, Al…"

Abby nodded. "Thanks." She paused for a minute before leaning over and hugging her best friend. Rose was returning the hug when they heard Bri speak.

"How come there's a bestie hug going without me in it?" In a moment, a third pair of arms had wrapped itself around both of them.

"Ew, Bri, you smell bad!"

"Abby, you're a bitch."

* * *

Abby prepared to exit the room a few minutes later, her heart feeling unusually heavy. She stood at the doorway and looked back at her roommates. For some reason, she felt as though something terrible was going to happen today… as though she'd be seeing something or someone for the last time.

She sighed, a lump forming in her throat. "Rosie, Bri…?"

The two of them looked at her. "Hmmm?" Rose said, encouraging her to speak.

"I— can we have breakfast together?"

They looked at her strangely. Brianna raised an eyebrow. "Who's dying?"

"Shut up, Bri," said Rose earnestly, noticing the look on Abby's face. "Is anything the matter, Abby?"

"I— dunno," said Abby. "I just feel as though it's been a long time since all of us— I mean, you two, Al and Ian and I have done anything together. Being in the same classes is fine, but with the OWLs, classes, homework and everything… you know."

"Well, we can all plan the coming Hogsmeade weekend together," said Brianna. "It's not a problem!"

"Can we do it today, right now for breakfast?" Abby pleaded. "I have a feeling that a lot of things are going to change very soon…"

Rose seemed to understand at once, though Abby suspected that she thought about the changes that would come if the latter was indeed pregnant. The former nodded. "Okay, but you'll have to wait a while. I doubt the guys will even be awake now."

"Ian is awake," said Abby. "We were planning to head off to the lake after breakfast."

"This early?"

"He knows I barely sleep, so he wakes up early," said Abby, an expression of adoration appearing on her face.

Rose smiled at her and Abby felt a bit of guilt slide down her throat. Rose had been in love too, but Abby had ruined it all for her best friend. It had taken ages for Rose to forgive Abby, but now the two of them were fine again.

"I have to get dressed too," Brianna reminded Abby. "Let's all go for breakfast at the normal time."

Abby shrugged. "As long as we're all together…" She stepped out of the dormitory. "So I'll see the two of you and Al at breakfast, okay?" She waved both her friends goodbye, her heart feeling a little lighter as she proceeded to meet Ian.

Rose sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, feeling cheerful at the sound of all the chatter and clatter. She pulled a plate of toast towards herself and started to help herself to it, as Al came and sat next to her. Brianna had arrived a little before Rose and was already sitting opposite Al. As she looked up to talk to Brianna, Rose saw her stare intently at something.

"What are you—?" Rose began, but she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a tall, thin boy standing behind her; he had light blonde hair and grey eyes. Rose bit her lip and started to look away.

"I need to talk to you," said the boy. His voice had a drawling quality to it.

"I'm not interested in talking to you," said Rose, not meeting her eyes with him.

"Will you not even—?"

"Please, leave me alone," said Rose, looking away from him. "Just go, okay?"

There was silence. Al stood up from his seat. "You heard her, Malfoy."

"I wasn't looking for your precious opinion, Potter," drawled Scorpius Malfoy.

Just then, Abby and Ian appeared at the door. Both of them noticed Scorpius but, pretending to ignore him, slowly walked over and took their places next to Brianna. Scorpius shifted his gaze to Abby. "You'll pay for this," he hissed. "You'll pay for this."

"Right, I'm peeing in my pants," said Abby, raising her eyebrow. "So are you going to leave Rosie alone or not?"

"She doesn't want to be left alone, in case you haven't noticed," he snarled, fire springing up in his light eyes.

"That's it," said Rose, standing up. "You need to go, Scor— Malfoy."

Scorpius looked at her, his gaze softening for a fleeting moment but then it was fire again as he stared at Abby. "I'll get back at you. You'll wish you were—"

"That's it!" said Ian, standing up too. "If you don't get the hell out of here, Malfoy, I'll jinx you."

"Like you have the guts to do that," said Scorpius. "You tell your girlfriend—"

"If there's anyone I want to say something to, mate, it's you," said Ian coolly, raising his wand. "I'll give you two choices. Either get lost or get hexed."

"Try hexing me if you've got the balls, Murray," said Scorpius, pulling out his wand.

"Ian, no!" said Abby, while Ian prepared himself to aim a spell at Scorpius. "You'll get into trouble. Don't do it."

Ian looked at her, then at Scorpius. "I'll let you go this time, Malfoy, but—"

"Go on and hide behind your girlfriend for now, Murray," Scorpius taunted. "But one day, she's not going to be there to protect you. What will happen then?"

"You—" Ian began, but Abby snatched away his wand. "No, Ian, that's enough. Sit down. He'll go away."

Ian, taking deep breaths, sat down next to Abby, while Scorpius directed his attention to Rose. "Six o' clock this evening, our usual spot." He then left, leaving everyone else to stare at him, as Rose tried to concentrate on her breakfast.

There was dull, heavy silence again. "Mmm," said Ian, trying to suppress the tension and looking at the food around him. "Yummy."

"You're such a foodie," Abby said fondly, unknowingly batting her eyelashes.

Brianna pretended to throw up into her porridge.

Ian chuckled at Brianna's reaction and turned his attention to Abby. "You know, these people find us incredibly cheesy, but they'll know when it's their turn. Right, Abs?"

This time, Al choked on his cereal. "I'm sorry, but did you just call her _Abs_?"

"Isn't that an adorable name?" Abby squealed.

Al raised an eyebrow. "This is a joke, right? You've got to be kidding about calling each other Abs and er—"

"—Ianie," Brianna finished for him, causing her and Al to burst into laughter. Abby and Ian, however, didn't seem to find it funny. Rose, on the other hand, was too upset to be amused. She took another bite of her toast as a hand placed itself on her shoulder.

"Come on, Rosie," said Al quietly, his green eyes full of sympathy. "You've got to put that behind you."

Rose sighed. "I've tried… I've tried so hard…"

Abby looked at her in despair. "This is all because of me… I'm terribly sorry, Rosie… I—"

"It's okay, Abby, I've told you that," said Rose quietly. There was silence for a third time. Rose bit into her toast, feeling guilty about having brought all the tension into the first meal that she was having with all of her closest friends in the last few weeks. For ages, they had all been scattered around during meals. Someone in the library, someone with the teacher asking questions… Why was she ruining it for Abby?

She smiled as mischievously as possible and turned to Abby. "_Abs_, did Bri say that you call Ian 'Ianie'…?"

Abby blushed. "I— I may have called him that once… or twice."

"Oh, shut up, that's what you call him all the time," said Brianna, laughing again.

Abby's cheeks were now glowing red. She took her goblet of pumpkin juice and downed all of it at once, trying not to face any of the others. But as soon as she set down the goblet, she made a face.

"Oh, what is it, Abs? Sugar not enough?" Al asked, smirking.

But apparently, Abby wasn't in a mood to joke at all. "No," she said, her pale face starting to turn green. "The juice tastes weird…"

Rose took a sip out of her own goblet. "It's just the same as always. What's wrong with the taste?"

"I— don't know… I don't feel good…" She stood up, picked up her bag and rushed away. Rose, Ian, Al and Bri continued staring behind her, perplexed.

She was gone a few seconds, when Rosie got up from her seat. "I should probably— go and check out if she's fine."

"Yeah, I'll come," Bri said, standing up too. The two of them picked up their bags and hurried out of the Great Hall. Al and Ian got up shortly after them.

They found her sitting against the wall outside, her head resting in her hands. Rose hurried and knelt beside her. "Abby! What happened?"

She did not look up. "Hospital Wing— I need to go…"

"Oh Merlin!" said Bri, as Ian came and knelt beside Abby too. He took her arm and put it around his shoulder, helping her stand up.

"I'll get a stretcher," said Brianna, rushing off towards the Hospital Wing.

Brianna, Rosie and Al stood aside as Abby stood up, staggering dangerously. Al hurried to help her out too. He took her other arm and placed it around his own shoulder.

"Ian…" Abby said weakly, "I can't see you…!" Her eyes were almost completely shut and were rolling in and out of focus.

"I'm right beside you, Abby," he whispered. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

The corridor began to fill up with students exiting the Great Hall to get to their classes. A few of them stole glances Abby's way, but they were too worried about being late for class to stop and watch. A minute later, the school bell rang.

"Ian, hold me!" Abby said, her voice sounding fearful, as people scrambled to get to their classes everywhere around them. "I…" she stopped right there, her breath catching in her throat as she staggered. All of a sudden, she wasn't walking anymore.

"Come on, Abby, you—" Al looked at her eyes to find them totally shut.

"She's fainted!" Ian said, sounding very scared. "Oh Merlin…"

Just then, Brianna arrived, followed by two House Elves carrying a stretcher. Al and Ian placed her on it, as the house-elves Disapparated. Then the four of them raced to the Hospital Wing. They were supposed to be in their Care of Magical Creatures class, but they couldn't care for themselves, let alone magical creatures for the moment. However, Madam Pomfrey didn't allow them into the Hospital Wing.

The quartet tried arguing with the matron, but the latter was stern. "Attend your lessons," she said, letting the door open only a crack. "Your friend will be taken care of."

Realising that arguing with Madam Pomfrey wasn't going to help Rose, Al, Ian and Brianna nervously headed to the Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Hagrid let them join in— luckily for them, he had only just started the lesson.

Rose tried to concentrate on the Bowtruckles, but her mind kept wandering to Abby. If she was really pregnant and Madame Pomfrey found out about it…

"Miss Rose Weasley, Miss Brianna Flynn," called out a voice. Rose broke from her reverie to see Professor Vector— their Headmistress, hurry towards them. She looked worried.

Rose and Brianna looked at each other and rose to their feet. "Yes, Professor?" asked the former.

"I need you to come to the Hospital Wing with me," replied Vector. She looked at Hagrid. "May I borrow them?"

"Yes, yer can take 'em, ma'am," said Hagrid, nodding at the two girls.

"Thank you," said Vector. "Take your bags and follow me," she instructed.

Rose picked up her bag and followed Vector along with Brianna, her heart starting to beat fast. "P-Professor?" she stammered. "What—?"

Vector did not reply to them before they had reached the Hospital Wing. The doors were still shut and before opening them, Vector faced the two girls and sighed. "You brought Miss Abigail Clarke to the Hospital Wing, didn't you? In what condition was she when you saw her last?"

"She was really dizzy," replied Brianna. "So I went to get the stretcher—"

"She fainted right before Bri came back," said Rose, cutting Brianna short. "Then we put her on the stretcher and…" she noticed the look on Vector's face. "Is anything the matter, Professor?"

Vector sighed. "I— I think you should go in…" She opened the doors and Rose walked in, her heart pounding with fear. What had happened to Abby? Her eyes drifted to the single occupied bed. And before she knew it, she was screaming. "NOOOO!"

Abby was lying on the bed, the whole of her body covered in a white cloth— including her face. She was dead.


	3. Disturbing Secrets

**Member review response:**

**Miss Cow:** I was unable to PM your response, but I'm so glad you're liking this, and that you decided to read this fic, despite the fact that it doesn't fit into your preferred genre. And eep, hope you're feeling better! :O

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**Author's Chapter Notes**:

Thanks you so very much to my efficient Beta, theblacksister/TheBlackSister for her help! :)

I now remember that I was in Malaysia when I wrote this chapter, ha. I wrote the next one in Singapore. Both places are really cool. :D

Anyway- this chapter contains self-injury. We generally include these warnings on MNFF, and I thought I should mention it here because despite the 'T', people may not be prepared. However, I really do not want to trigger anyone here, so if you're sensitive to this topic, please don't read this chapter. Also, cigarette smoking is injurious to health, and I do not encourage it in any way.

That said, here's chapter 3. Please write down your thoughts in that small text box at the end of the chapter. They will definitely be responded to. ;)

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**3. Disturbing Secrets**

Harry Potter sipped on a cup of tea as he looked though a couple of papers on his table. He read them for a few minutes, before calling out to his wife. "Ginny?"

She entered the study and looked at him intently. "How's the progress?"

"Not great. I have very little to go on with."

She nodded. "You'll do it, Harry. You always do."

He smiled. "Thanks. By the by, I was wondering if you could do me a favour."

"Sure," she said. "What do you have in mind?"

"I want you to… search Al's room for me."

***

"Are you up?"

Rose pulled the blankets over her head, pretending to not have heard Brianna's question. Well— she was pretending to be asleep anyway, so technically she shouldn't have heard her roommate. Meanwhile, Brianna sighed and left the room— shutting the door behind her. Rose remained under her blankets for another fifteen minutes before pushing them away and getting out of bed.

She showered and dressed, drowning herself in the silence of the dormitory. Silence. This was precisely what Rose liked— what she needed. Silence comforted her. It reduced the pain.

The pain… was terrible. It tore at her. It was like endless physical agony. Like someone was cutting her up— running a thousand little knives all through her body. Abby had been her best friend and her death had been the worst thing that had ever happened. Rose had never known someone so close to die and now, as she felt the grief and sorrow rip through her; she wondered how Uncle Harry had handled so many losses in his life. Then she wondered how Ian must be feeling, if she herself were so miserable after Abby's death.

***

Ian got up from his bed and searched around in the drawer of his bedside table for something. As he found what he wanted, he put it into his pyjama pocket and headed to the bathroom, shutting and bolting the door behind him. His three roommates— Al, Steven and Ben were asleep and Ian envied them all. He hadn't slept a wink since Abby's death.

He slowly slid down to the bathroom floor as he thought of her. It had been so difficult… so painful…

Ian fumbled though his pockets and pulled out the small knife that he had put there. Then he pulled up the left sleeve of his nightshirt to reveal his arm. Sighing, he plunged the blade of the knife onto his bare skin.

***

Harry's age had touched forty, but Ginny wondered if people turned senile so early in life. She raised an eyebrow at her husband. He hadn't changed much in appearance since his teenage years— except for the greying hair at his temples and a few age lines on his face. "Please don't tell me that you're placing your own son amongst the suspects, Harry," she said.

"I know Al wouldn't harm anyone. But I must do what has to be done."

Ginny looked at him, her brown eyes narrowing dangerously. "You are by no means placing our son or our niece amongst your suspects, Harry James Potter. I don't care about what has to be done. Hell, both of them are good kids and you darn well know that!"

Harry sighed. He turned back to his desk and picked up a paper bag that had been sitting over it. Slowly, he produced a sealed plastic bag with a cigarette butt in it. "This was found in the scene of crime," he said. "That is precisely where Al, Rose, Abigail Clarke and their two other friends were sitting. Abigail's pumpkin juice was laced with some kind of poison, which apparently caused her death."

"So what's your point?"

"Lily—" Harry paused, wondering whether he should tell Ginny about it or not. But she had caught on.

"Lily _what_, Harry?"

"Well… during the Christmas holidays, Lily told me something about Al." Harry licked his lips and looked directly into Ginny's eyes. "Al has developed an addiction to cigarettes. James… tried to talk him out of it but he wouldn't listen."

***

Al sat quietly by the lake, watching a few kids throw pieces of bread into the water as the Giant Squid lazily raised a tentacle to catch each piece. He wished he weren't Albus Severus Potter. He wished he were somebody else… some other kid who had no idea about who Abigail Clarke was…who wasn't related to Harry Potter at all.

He had entered Hogwarts only to be stared at, pointed at and whispered about by the whole school for apparently no reason. His elder brother, James had also been subjected to the same kind of treatment since the last year and so was Rose— though to a lesser extent.

Soon, Al and James, with the help of Rose, had found out the truth about their parents. The great Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. The Chosen One. The one to defeat Lord Voldemort. Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione had accompanied him in most of his adventures and they also had a hand in destroying Voldemort.

That was the reason that Al, James and Rose— then Hugo and Lily, when they came along, had been constant subjects of gossip around Hogwarts. All five of them were faced with one problem: they couldn't seem to find true friends— friends who liked them for who they were as individuals rather than who their parents were.

Then there were the expectations. Being the offspring of people who featured on Chocolate Frog Cards was hard. For example, everyone expected Al and James to be very good Seekers, but unfortunately, there was only one position for a Seeker and though Al was good, James had got it. Al had gone on to become a wonderful Chaser— just like his mother, but just the year after that, James had been appointed Quidditch Captain. And he was already Prefect, so there was no way that was new to the family when Al got the badge either.

And last, but not the least… Al was the middle child. Not as exciting to his parents as the first one— not as pampered as the third one. And though his mother never did accept it, it did seem to him that she had longed a daughter. He did know that his parents loved him a lot, but sometimes Al couldn't help wonder if they loved him quite as much as Lily or James.

Al took a deep breath and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his robe pocket. He took out a single cigarette, lit it and took a drag. He sighed as smoke came swirling out of his mouth. Once out of fear, he had confided in his mother some of his insecurities and she had explained to him how his Uncle Ron had been the same way once upon a time, and how he, Al, must learn to get over his insecurities lest they become his prime weakness in life.

He put the cigarette box back into his pocket but, as he did so, he felt something else in the same pocket. Bewildered, he caught hold of the flat, card-like substance and pulled it out to see his father's face staring back at him.

Harry Potter was seventeen in his Chocolate Card picture and Al knew that if he himself had had the glasses and the lightning-bolt scar, he would have looked exactly like his father.

His father. Al had always been able to talk to his father… to confide in him. He did not hide anything from his father. Except for…

Al looked at the burning cigarette in his hand. _Coward,_ said a small voice in his head. _You prefer to try and forget your fears rather than face them._

Al felt a lump form in his throat. What should he do? Where should he go release all the grief— all the sorrow, disappointment and… _heartbreak_ trapped in him? No one would listen to him. No one would understand.

He put the cigarette to his lips again.

_Bloody coward,_ said the voice in his head.

***  
Scorpius darted about outside the Great Hall, waiting for Rose to arrive for breakfast. It was a Saturday and, since there were no classes today, he was ready to hang around and wait for her for as long as it would take. He really, really had to talk to her and he had been unable to do so after that Clarke girl's death.

Al Potter walked into the Great Hall and Scorpius ignored him as usual. He would have loved to pick on the former, but, however annoying Rose's friends were, they had suffered a tragedy and Scorpius did not want to be that terrible to anyone, no matter how much he disliked them.

He had to wait for a few more minutes before Rose came along, her eyes downcast and her face projecting grief enough to tear him. He felt terribly sorry for her. He wished he could be there for her— help her… but she wouldn't let him, and he knew it.

She looked up at him and continued to walk, pretending to ignore him. But he knew that she couldn't. She was just about to enter the Great Hall when he gripped her by the arm and pulled her close to him. She did not protest. She just stared at him with swollen eyes, silently pleading him to let her go for the time being.

He couldn't do that. If he let her go now, he could swear she'd never return to talk to him until he forced her to do so. And he didn't want to force her into anything. He put a finger to a strand of her red hair and she jerked her head away. "What do you want?"

He looked around. The place was too crowded for what he wanted to tell her. "Grab some toast and come to the lake with me."

"Please, Scorpius… I—"

"It's important."

She sighed. He had been trying to get her attention ever since that fateful day when Abby had died… and that had been three days ago. For the umpteenth time, she shuddered at the thought of Abby's death and wondered if she would be able to stay through the latter's funeral the next day without breaking down. She bit her lip and wondered what he had to say. "Okay. Wait here. I'll just come."

He smiled… for what seemed like the first time since their break-up. She had agreed to talk to him. Albeit what he had to say had nothing to do with their broken relationship, he felt a flicker of hope. If only he could get her back somehow…

She came back with a stack of toast wrapped in a paper napkin and he fought all urges to put an arm around her shoulder as both of them exited the castle together. He was glad to have some time with her alone. That was all he probably needed so that she'd be all his again.

***

Harry towelled himself dry and wore a fresh set of clothes. Ginny and her Bat-Bogey Hexes... Asking her to search their son's room had not been a good idea. She had been exceptionally angry when Al's room had contained an innocent enough collection of things. He didn't even seem to have so much as a girlfriend.

Once Harry was out of the bathroom, he sat down at his study again, only to hear a tapping sound at his window. He looked over to see an owl tapping at the glass impatiently. He opened the window and the bird hopped onto the window sill, sticking out its leg. He detached the scroll tied to it and it took off as soon as he had done so.

Harry placed the scroll on his desk and was about to unfurl it, when he felt a pair of arms entwine around him. He smiled as he caught a flowery scent and turned around to face his wife. She kissed his cheek. "You may be my husband, Harry, but Al is my baby. I won't let anyone wrong him."

He nodded. "I understand why you were angry— I really do. But that was a necessary step I had to take."

She squeezed him lightly and then sat on a chair. "You know, ever since you told me about what Lily said, I've been worried for Al."

"Me too," said Harry. "If it is true, I wonder what's troubling him so much."

"I think I know what that is," whispered Ginny.

Harry took another seat and looked at her intently. "Did he tell you something I should know?"

"I— don't know," said Ginny, "but a few months ago, he told me about how he felt overshadowed by James and you all the time. How people expected so much out of him since he is your son— and how James got there first all the time. He also thought that we had longed for a girl child and that he was a… disappointment when he came along. It kind of reminds me of how Ron used to feel, you know?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "He seriously told you this?"

"Yes."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him not to be so insecure and that we'd love him no matter what he achieved or didn't achieve in life. And you know that the girl child thing isn't true. We always wanted three kids."

Harry nodded. "I hope he doesn't feel we aren't 'accepting it all' in front of him or something."

"That's what I'm worried about, Harry. And if he has taken to smoking… something is going terribly wrong. There is something we aren't doing— or haven't done right!"

Harry put an arm around her. "Hey— calm down. He's coming home after the funeral tomorrow, right? We'll talk to him."

Ginny sighed. "I hope he realises how much we love him— that he's no different from James or Lily."

"He will. He will realise soon enough."

Ginny then stood up and left, muttering something about the Quidditch article she was supposed to be completing and Harry returned to his work. It took a few seconds for him to remember the scroll that the owl had delivered minutes ago and he picked it up from the table and unfurled it. What he saw made him gasp.

The scroll contained Abby Clarke's post-mortem report. And one line in the report had caught Harry's eye immediately.

_Reason for death: __Chronic Lead Poisoning._

Harry stared at it for five whole minutes. He was no Healer, but he had dealt with enough post-mortem reports to know what the word 'chronic' meant. In Abby's case, it meant that somebody had been poisoning her with small amounts of lead for a long time now. It had all accumulated in her body and caused her death.

This also meant that she hadn't probably been poisoned in the Great Hall like it was mentioned in the information he had received. Somebody had carefully and cunningly been killing her slowly and silently. And what was worse, it seemed to be the handiwork of another student, because no-one else could have been in close-enough proximity to Abigail, to be poisoning her in this manner.


	4. A Day in the Past

**Review response:**

**Miss Cow:** Oh, there will be a lot of revelations about the past as the chapters go on. Glad you're liking it this way, though. :D And H/G are nice to write. :D Thank you for your comment! :)

* * *

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Hello all!

Chapter 4! This has a lot of reveals about a few people, so I hope you guys enjoy it.

I might be slightly late with the next update because I have a surgery exam on the 15th. Well, I don't have to cut up anyone, but I do have to study a lot. Hehe. But then begins my internal med rotation, so yaaayyy! :D

I would like to thank my lovely, efficient Beta- Alice/ theblacksister/ TheBlackSister for her help with this. :)

* * *

**4. A Day in the Past**

"I think Flynn is up to something fishy."

Rose stared up at Scorpius, not believing his nerves. "Are you actually saying that my best friend has a hand in—"

"Did I say that?" he asked softly.

"So what is it, then?"

"I'm pretty sure I saw her pour something into Clarke's goblet the day she died. And that wasn't the first time that I'd seen her do it."

Rose's eyes started to tear up at the mention of Abby, but she blinked furiously so that Scorpius wouldn't notice. "What do you mean?"

"I've seen her tip a transparent potion into Clarke's goblet more than once."

"That's nonsense!" said Rose. "Bri would never do anything do anything to harm Abby."

Scorpius snorted. "Really! You haven't changed, have you, Rosie? You think people are born good and noble."

"Rosie is what the people I love call me," mumbled Rose.

"What was that?"

She was pretty sure he had heard it, but she didn't answer his question. "You said Bri _is _up to something fishy," she pointed out to Scorpius.

"Yes," he replied. "I saw her tip something into _your_ goblet last night at dinner, too."

"Well, I didn't taste anything odd in my water," said Rose. "Abby—" she swallowed, "said there was something off about the— pumpkin j—juice." Tears welled up her eyes and she swiped at them before they could fall. "Plus," she continued in a weak voice, "I've only had my meals with Al, James, Lily and Hugo for company in the last few days. Bri was there either before or after me, so there was no way she could have known where I was going to sit."

"You were sitting next to her yesterday during Vector's memorial for Clarke, remember?"

Rose shook her head. Abby's memorial was a vague, sad memory and she had been too aggrieved to notice anything that was going on around her. "B—But Bri doesn't even have a motive to harm Abby. She loved Abby as much as the rest of us did."

Scorpius looked at her for a few seconds before saying slowly, "I have seen her kissing Murray too."

Rose sat up straight. "What? No! That's impossible! She was never—"

"Yes, she was interested in Murray."

"But Ian was totally crazy about—"

"—Flynn," finished Scorpius. "Judging by the way he was kissing her, it couldn't have been a 'caught-in-the-moment' act."

"When did you see them?" Rose whispered.

"A few months ago, I think… at rounds. I caught them at it in a broom cupboard after curfew. I sent them back to your tower. Murray was terrified that I'd reveal the incident to Clarke ever since then. And that's not all."

"What now?" asked Rose.

"Your favourite cousin, Potter, secretly fancied Clarke. He's sitting right there, look." Scorpius pointed at a faraway point.

Rose looked at the direction at which Scorpius was pointing and spotted Al, who was sitting on a rock far from where she was. She could only just make out that he was staring at the water, and he seemed to have something in his hand. She gave Scorpius an exasperated look in spite of herself. "Right, and he told _you,_ about his secret crush."

"He blurted it out to me the day I caught Murray and Flynn, by mistake. It was a little before you and I broke up. Potter was with me in the Astronomy Tower during rounds and we were taking a smoke. You do remember that we were on fairly cordial terms then."

Rose nodded. Her break-up with Scorpius seemed to have affected Al's friendship with him, too. However, she had a question for Scorpius. "Have you kept your promise?"

He did not have an answer for her. Nevertheless, she got the silent reply. Disappointment lingered in her blue eyes. "I asked you for one thing, Scorpius— to stop smoking. If you can't honour that, I don't know how true your claim of being in love with me was." She was about to get up from her place, but was startled by a surprisingly strong hand on her shoulder.

His grey eyes were smouldering with held back emotion. "Don't ever question my feelings for you, okay? You don't know—"

"I don't know?" she asked, a lump forming in her throat. "I was forced to break up with you too, Malfoy! Why don't you effing understand that? Why are you making things difficult for both of us?"

"Because it is difficult," he said. "It is difficult to stay away from you, Rosie! I still love you and you know that!"

"Oh yeah? If you loved me, you'd have tried to rid yourself of that filthy, dangerous addiction of yours."

"Dangerous!" he spat, "Oh, you care, don't you! It was all fine when I begged and pleaded of you to not break up with me and you let me stay like that and suffer with my emotions! I was supposed the get over you in a jiffy!"

"I never meant you to suffer!" said Rose, the mix of emotion in her finally causing a tear to fall down her cheek. "I couldn't help it, okay? It wasn't in my hands. I told you that!"

Scorpius huffed, crossing his arms. "We'd still be together if it hadn't been for Clarke. Sometimes I feel that she is best d—"

"Shut up!" screeched Rose, starting to cry. "Shut up, okay?" She sniffed and started to stand up.

Scorpius suddenly realised what he had said. "Rosie… I didn't mean to—" he caught her arm, but she shook it away. He stood up too.

"I know you were involved in Abby's death, Scorpius," she sniffed. "I r—remember what you had said the day s—she died. You won't get away with this." Giving him a hateful look with her red-rimmed eyes, she walked away. And even as she turned around for a tiny fraction of a second, she saw him punch the trunk of a nearby tree and start to fumble in his robe pockets for a cigarette.

* * *

Brianna walked up to the lake and found Al at his usual place, staring at the water silently. She walked to the spot and sat next to him. He noticed her, but didn't acknowledge her

"Al…"

He looked up at her and she remembered how she'd nurtured a small crush on him for his gorgeous eyes many months ago. Rose and Abby had been especially giggly and squeaky about it. Abby… Brianna shivered. She didn't want to think about it.

"What happened?" Al asked her.

"I— I just…" she sighed. "You, me, Ian and Rose… we should talk about this entire thing, you know?"

"What's there to talk about? Abby's dead and—"

"But _we_ aren't! We've got to help each other out of this grief…"

"People grieve in their own ways, Bri. Anyway, I think all of us should be free of each other for a while…"

"At a time when we need each other the most?"

"We really—"

"Let's sit together for a while… in the Room of Requirement. All four of us. We can—"

"I really think that's not a great idea, Bri," said Al.

"I'm sorry, Al, but I'm not letting the four of us end up with different shrinks trying to get us to talk."

"Who shrank?"

"Never mind," replied Brianna (she was Muggle-born). "Come on, Al…"

He stood up. "I think this is a terrible idea… but okay, let's go."

* * *

Ian packed his trunk hastily, not caring to fold half his clothes as he threw them in. He was just shoving his socks into his cauldron when he heard a sound.

"What are you doing?" Rose was standing beside him, with a confused expression on her face.

He bit his lip. "I— I think I'm leaving Hogwarts for good."

"What? Why?!"

"I can't stay here. Abby—" he stopped there, looking for his tie.

"Ian…"

He looked at her, blinking back tears. "I need to leave this place, Rosie. I have spoken to Mum and Dad. I'll be joining Beauxbatons next week. I really can't stay here with all the terrible memories of the last few days to haunt me."

She looked as though she were at a loss for words. "When… when are you leaving for home?" she asked finally. Ian was from Ireland— as was Brianna.

"On Monday. I'll be staying over at Al's place after the funeral tomorrow and my parents will come the next day."

There was silence. Rose looked at him with hurtful eyes. "Will you come to the Room of Requirement with us?"

"Why?" he asked, confused.

"Bri thinks the four of us should… talk. Things have been terrible for us lately and all of us have been avoiding each other. And now you're going too."

He stopped packing his trunk for a minute and put his hands on his hips. "Okay. I'll come."

* * *

Harry paced around his office restlessly, cracking his knuckles in annoyance. Abby Clarke's case did not make sense at all. Just a few minutes ago, he had gotten news from her family that the ring that she usually wore on the little finger of her left hand was missing. According to them, it was a silver ring with a pearl set in it: a family heirloom passed on to every girl child in the family when she entered Hogwarts. It was also very valuable, and would fetch a great price if sold. So had somebody killed her for the ring? That sounded so bizarre…

So far, all the information that Harry had was that Abby Clarke had died of lead poisoning, wherein the lead had been administered to her for months. She had been sitting in the Great Hall, at the Gryffindor table, and when he had gotten the area searched, a cigarette stub had been found. It may or may not have been related to the girl's death, but it could be important. Now, there was the missing ring. What else?

Harry picked up a goblet of water on his desk and took a sip. The Hogwarts teachers had been questioned by the Aurors he had sent to Hogwarts. The four children with Abby Clarke had been questioned too, but they had the same tale to tell. There was only one thing to do for further clues, now. He'd have to question Al and his friends himself when they'd come home for the funeral tomorrow. From this moment on, he was going to be handling the case himself.

* * *

The Room of Requirement was in full preparation for Al, Rose, Ian and Brianna as they entered it. It had taken the form of some kind of a camping spot. The 'skies' were dark and starry despite the fact that it was clear and sunny outside. There was a light, cool breeze blowing around and a small fire crackled in the centre of the room. It was surrounded by small, flat rocks, comfortable enough to sit down on.

Brianna looked around at the others and promptly sat on a rock. "Well…?" she said, said, pointing at the other rocks. Al, Rose and Ian quietly nodded and settled themselves on the other rocks.

Rose shivered and found a shawl next to her foot immediately. She picked it up and draped it around herself gratefully, as Brianna spoke again. "It's been three days since Abby…" she took a deep breath. "It's been difficult for all of us. I think we should talk about it… help each other out of the grief." Her eyes were shining with tears as she looked at all of them. "Let's start with all the memories."

There was silence. Rose shut her eyes and thought of the first day of Hogwarts— when she had met Abby. And then all those crazy times that they, along with Brianna had had in their dormitory. Staying up late and talking nonsense… making terrible fun of each other… talking about the boys they would like to date… studying in a frenzy on the nights before exams… listening to Abby's tiny, portable WWN… visiting each other's homes during summer and Brianna dragging them to cinema halls to watch Muggle movies… the mad Hogsmeade weekends… swimming in the lake…

"I have a confession to make," said Al quietly. Rose looked up to see sadness in her cousin's green eyes as he continued, "And this is especially for you, Ian."

Ian nodded. "Is it relating to Abby?"

"Yes."

"Go on."

Al licked his lips and finally broke into a stupid, sad grin. "I had the hugest crush on your girlfriend, mate… I'm really sorry about that."

Ian chuckled. "You don't have to be! I'm glad that my girlfriend was hot enough to be my best friend's fancy too." He clapped Al on the back. "Come on, Al, you know I'd never mind!"

Al shook his head. "That was not all. We kissed once too."

"Oh, I know about that. Abby thought you were me in the darkness. Don't worry about it. We're cool and will always be."

Brianna wiped her face and sniffed. "Some skeleton in Abby's closet, eh? She always had some deep, stupid secret… Remember how she didn't tell us for two months that Ian was her boyfriend, Rosie?"

"Oh, yeah," said Rose. "And that tiny notebook of hers…"

"That was awesome!"

"My girlfriend had a secret, tiny notebook that I didn't know about?" asked Ian.

"She didn't tell you?" asked Rose.

"No… what did it have?"

"Well… it was this notebook where she had written loads of interesting short stories based on her experiences at Hogwarts. And they were all fabulous. She was too shy to tell us about her writing skills."

"And remember how she kissed Samantha Richards on a dare?" Brianna added. All four of them roared with laughter as they remembered the funny incident when Abby had acted as though she had feelings for and kissed another girl on a dare. It had been memorable.

"And remember the time when all of us— well, except for Rosie, of course, failed that Potions test? Abby was devastated…"

"Oh yeah, and she had this weird way of crying too…"

* * *

Harry woke up at the shrill sound of his alarm and sat up on his bed immediately. He noticed that Ginny's side of the bed was empty already: she had woken up early to prepare for their son's arrival.

Harry went over to the window and pulled the curtains apart. Al, Rose and their friends were arriving by Floo in a couple of hours and immediately after the funeral, he was going to interrogate them all. Once he did that, he would be able to at least find out about possible motives to kill Abby Clarke… then it would only be a matter of time before he caught the culprit.

Harry padded into the bathroom and picked up his toothbrush, a single thought disturbing him greatly. He felt guilty about actually thinking like that, but he couldn't get rid of it either.

_Oh Merlin, I hope it isn't actually Al._


	5. Out Comes the Dirt: Part 1

**Author's Chapter Notes**:

Hello, all! Here's the next chapter... hope you enjoy it!

I'd like to thank my Beta, Alice- theblacksister/TheBlackSister for her inputs, comments and correction.

Do R/R, guys!

* * *

**5. Out Comes the Dirt: Part I**

Al stared at the coffin as it was being lowered, not believing that a day would come in his life when he'd see a friend of his die. He knew that his father had faced many deaths through his life too, but Al had never really asked him about it. He could understand how much worse his father would have felt, though. If one loss was not enough, Harry Potter had faced over a dozen of them through his life.

A sprinkling of dirt was thrown over the coffin and Al discreetly wiped away a lone tear. Beside him, Brianna was sobbing freely. She looked at Al with red-rimmed eyes and simultaneously they hugged. He could feel her tears wet his shirt as he held her and watched the soil being lowered on to Abby's coffin.

It was so strange to see all the secrets being buried with her… she seemed to have literally taken their secret to the grave.

_Al rounded the corner of the corridor, hoping that it would be time for rounds to be over already. These night-time strolls were the worst thing about being a Prefect. Unfortunately, though, you couldn't have everything._

He yawned and took a flight of stairs to the next floor, deciding to find Rose and pass his time in her company. He was just taking another turn, when he heard voices from the far end of the corridor he was about to enter. He looked around cautiously and when he found nobody there, he extracted his father's Invisibility Cloak. James had gotten the Marauder's Map (or rather, stolen it) from their father's desk and, when Al had been chosen as a Prefect, his father had given him his old Invisibility Cloak as a gift (and also told him with a wink to give his brother a good amount of competition for his pranks). Harry, having been made Head of the Auror department over a decade ago, did not go around literally chasing Dark wizards anymore and hence, he did not need his Cloak.

Presently, Al was walking along the corridor whose end the sounds had issued from. As he reached nearer, he could see Malfoy, Brianna and Ian standing outside a broom cupboard. Malfoy seemed to be telling Brianna and Ian off. But, before Al could reach them, both Ian and Brianna took off towards the Gryffindor Tower.

Al promptly stepped into the shadows and, in a moment, his Invisibility Cloak was out. Tucking it back into his bag, he made his way to Malfoy. "What was going on here?"

Malfoy shook his head. "Murray and Flynn were discovering each other in the closet. I told them to go back and do it in Murray's dorm."

"They were kissing?" Al asked disbelievingly. "How's that possible? Ian is dating Abby."

"Sure he is. For you the sun shines out of all the world's arses, doesn't it?" said Malfoy, extracting a box of cigarettes from his pocket. "Cigarette, Potter?"

"I don't smoke."

"Oh, I forgot," said Malfoy. "See you around, then, I'm going to the Astronomy Tower."

Al saw him leave, but then called out to him. "Wait— I'm coming too."

A few minutes later, they were both on the tower. Malfoy was smoking ('a fairly recent, annoying habit' as Rose called it) and Al had a cigarette in his hand too. He had never thought he'd smoke but, after the first two drags, he was beginning to like it. It seemed to relieve the entire dilemma about his family that he had been going through lately. Also, he was temporarily eased about the declining grades in their assessed homework, which had started to worry him a lot. But one question nagged him— was Ian really cheating on Abby, with Brianna, at that?"

"Abby doesn't deserve to be cheated on," he blurted, the smoke getting to him. "She's so sweet and pretty… if Ian is cheating on her, she doesn't deserve him."

"Are you kidding me, Potter?" Malfoy drawled. "You actually fancy that skinny blonde?" When Al didn't reply, he continued, "You Gryffindors are so touchy—blubbering over the smallest of things. Now, we Slytherins know better than to bawl and wallow over one girl—"

"Hey," Al interrupted him. "Use any of your Slytherin theory on my cousin and I'll hit you, Malfoy."

Malfoy nodded curtly. "Your cousin is another case, Potter. If I were to be Sorted this year, she'd land me in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff."

Al did not say anything. Malfoy's answer was proof enough for him to know that Rose was probably in safe hands. Silently, they smoked for a while and hurried back to their rounds after that, lest a teacher discover them smoking.

Al returned to the Common Room that night with Rose, to find it deserted. It was the end of a Hogsmeade weekend and everyone had probably turned in early because of the long day.

Rose went back to her dormitory for the night and Al slumped on one of the sofas by the fire, thinking about Abby. He liked her so much, and still she wouldn't look at him 'like that.' She only had eyes for Ian, who was cheating on her. Just then, he heard a sound and Abby was standing in front of him. "Good night, Al."

"Abby? How long have you been here for?"

She smiled, and he was mesmerised by her beauty. He loved how her eyes were the same colour as his and yet a different shade. Hell, he thought he loved _**her**__. "I was at the back," she replied. "That History of Magic essay was ridiculously long."_

They bitched about History of Magic for a while and finally, Abby yawned. "I think I'll turn in for the night…"

She was just walking away; he realised that he had to tell her about Ian. "Listen, Abby—"

She turned around. "Huh, Al?"

"Ian…" he licked his lips, and decided to go for it. "Ian is cheating on you."

She stared at him for a while and sighed. "I know."

He was confused. "Y—You know?"

"Yes, Al. He has been pursuing Brianna, but she refused to let him cheat on me. Tonight, when she was on her way to use the Prefects' bathroom by Rosie's permission, he snuck out of the Tower, forced her into a broom cupboard and kissed her. Brianna told me." Al could see gaping holes in the story, but he kept quiet. "Ian will come back to me," said Abby again. "He'll realise that there's no one whom he can love more. And Bri will never let him cheat on me like that." Abby was starting to ascend the staircases to her dormitory, when Al called out to her again.

"Abby?" She turned around a second time but, before she could say anything, he had divulged a big chunk of truth. "I love you, Abby… I think you're so pretty. I've loved you for a long time now… I wish you'd be my girlfriend and not Ian's. I'd never cheat on you. I'll keep you so happy…"

Her green eyes were big with surprise as she approached him. "Oh, Al…" She placed her soft hands on his cheek and his heart missed a beat. She inched closer. "Oh, Al…"

Her lips crashed onto his and all hell broke loose. They were kissing as though there were no past, present or future… as though they were living the last moment of their lives.

She broke apart gently and rested her forehead on his. He could not believe his luck: he wanted to whoop and dance. And then she said the thing that he wished he would have never heard. "I love Ian too much to leave him. I'm sorry."

She turned around and ran up to her dorm, leaving him to stare after her, wanting to kill her. She had then had the nerve to tell Ian that she had mistaken Al for him in the darkness. However, she was gone now and the secret was futile… null and void…

After the service, the funeral reception at Abby's place was a painful affair, Al, Rose, Ian and Brianna sat in one corner of the room, unable to eat. Al and Rose's parents were there too, and they were talking to Abby's parents, offering them their condolences. When Al had realised that he could possibly bear no more of the sad occasion, Harry and Ginny came up to him. "Come on, Al, let's go home," said Ginny quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, Mum," he said, standing up. Ian stood up with him. He was staying with Al until the next day, when he would leave for Ireland.

At that exact moment, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione came over too. "Rosie, we will stay over at Uncle Harry's for a while before going home, okay?"

"Why?"

"I need some time with all four of you," Harry replied to her.

Al felt some of the colour drain out of his face. "You're— you're questioning us?"

"Yes," his father replied promptly. "I need further leads on your friend's case and I have decided to conduct some more questioning for the four of you to see if there's anything I have missed.

***

Brianna sat with Rose at the back of Rose's father's car as he drove them to Mr Potter's place. Mr and Mrs Weasley were seated at the front, and they seemed to be engaged in a conversation about the marriage of a certain Teddy Lupin to Rose's cousin, Victoire. Mrs Weasley was of the idea that they had married too young, while Mr Weasley was okay with it.

Anyway, Brianna was used to Mr and Mrs Weasley and their bickering. She stayed over at Rose's place for the last week of her holidays every year and she actually found their fights quite cute, though she never mentioned that to Rose, who was always irritated when they fought.

Presently, Brianna felt herself growing more and more nervous as they neared Al's house. Individual questioning. What would she tell Mr Potter? Should she lie? What if he mixed Veritaserum with her drink or something? He wouldn't do that, would he?

She sighed and shut her eyes as she recollected the terrible mistake she had made a few months ago…

Brianna knew she had never probably fancied anyone as much as she fancied Ian. Though she didn't want to think about it, she really liked him a lot. But watching him with Abby always hurt her so much…

_One night, Scorpius Malfoy had caught them kissing in a broom cupboard and sent them away. Brianna felt terribly guilty. Out of all the terrible things she had done in her life, this had to top the list._

While they walked together to the Gryffindor Tower, Ian spoke up. "You know, Bri, there's something special between us that I can sense. I would love to spend more time with you… get to know you…"

"Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?" Brianna whispered.

"Yes. What do you think?"

"You have broken up with Abby, right?"

He was silent for a minute, but then he replied. "No."

"B—But you said—"

"She's being difficult, Bri. She knows it's over— but she won't accept it. She won't break up with me."

"Even then, Ian," said Brianna, "I will not let you cheat on her. She's my best friend."

"But how will I stay away from you…? She gets more and more ridiculous each day, Bri! She has started calling me _**'Ianie!'**__"_

Brianna suppressed a chuckle, despite the seriousness of the situation. "Whatever, Ian, come to me after you're done with her." She looked up at the Fat Lady's portrait that guarded their Common Room and said, "Sticky Snowballs."

The portrait swung forwards and the duo climbed in through the hole into the Common Room. Brianna hadn't felt worse about herself all her life. She saw Abby sitting in a corner and struggling over an essay and immediately approached her best friend. In a minute, she had blurted out the fact that she had kissed Ian— except that she didn't quite say that the kiss had been mutual.

By the time she went to bed that night, she was in a pathetic mood. She, Brianna, was a bitch. A total bitch.

She lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling for what seemed like hours before Rose came and fell dead onto her pillows. Brianna stayed like that for some more time, and still there was no sign of Abby.

Feeling guilty again, she got out of the dormitory and descended the staircases, only to hear sounds.

"Ian… Ian is cheating on you." It was Al's voice.

Soon after, Abby replied to him. "I know."

"Y—You know?"

"Yes, Al. He has been pursuing Brianna, but she refused to let him cheat on me. Tonight, when she was on her way to use the Prefects' bathroom by Rosie's permission, he snuck out of the Tower, forced her into a broom cupboard and kissed her. Brianna told me," she paused. "Ian will come back to me. He'll realise that there's no one whom he can love more. And Bri will never let him cheat on me like that."

Brianna could hear Abby start to climb the staircases and she took a few hastened steps backwards. However, Al spoke again. "Abby?" Then Brianna heard something unbelievable. "I love you, Abby… I think you're so pretty. I've loved you for a long time now… I wish you'd be my girlfriend and not Ian's. I'd never cheat on you. I'll keep you so happy…"

"Oh, Al…" Abby was saying, "Oh, Al…"

There was silence. Bewildered, Brianna gathered up her courage and tiptoed down the stairs to see what was happening. What she got to see shocked her. Al and Abby were kissing.

Sickened, Brianna started to walk back to her dormitory. Just as she had climbed a few more steps, she heard Abby's faint voice. "I love Ian too much to leave him. I'm sorry."

Brianna didn't sleep that night. She was disgusted at Abby. She hated that Abby was being such a stubborn bitch and not breaking up with Ian. Brianna hated that Abby had been so terrible to Al— Al, who was one of the sweetest people whom Brianna knew.

By morning, Brianna had decided what she wanted. When she met Ian, she promptly told him, "Tell me when it's truly done between you and Abby. I'll be waiting for you. Until then, enjoy each other. Both of you deserve it."

That was the day when Brianna officially started hating Abby. She did not show it to the latter, but the respect she had lost for her best friend never did come back.

Brianna jolted back to reality as the car stopped in front of Al's familiar house. She remembered how many times she had been over to his place during that last holiday week, just for a game of Quidditch with Al, Rose, Ian, Hugo, Lily and James. Then there were all those lovely, tasty meals that Al's mum cooked.

Today, she was entering Al's house to be royally screwed— and obviously, that wasn't in the literal terms, for at least that might be fun once Brianna would experience her first time.


	6. Out Comes the Dirt: Part 2

**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Hey, all!

The chapter is readable because of my amazing Beta theblacksister/TheBlackSister, so kudos to her! And reviews will be awesome! :)

* * *

**6. Out Comes the Dirt: Part II**

Al felt sick as he sat down on the couch with Rose and Brianna. Ian took the armchair beside them. He looked slightly pale. In the meantime, Al's mother had set down a platter of cakes for all of them. As for his father, Al had just noticed him disappear into his study with Uncle Ron.

Aunt Hermione had taken up another armchair opposite Ian. There was a tense silence in the room as Ginny too conjured up her own armchair and sat facing Al's couch directly. She was looking at Al in a way which suggested that she really wanted to talk to him.

Did she know something?

Al really hoped not. That was the last thing he needed— his mother's gut feelings guiding his father. He was sure to be caught if that happened.

* * *

Harry tidied up his study, looking for any last-minute requirements. There seemed to be none. Ron, on the other hand, was casting a Recording Charm on the room so that they could retain records of all the investigations. Ron too had previously been working as an Auror at the Ministry before quitting years ago to help George run his joke shop. Today, for the particularly difficult part of questioning his own son and niece, Harry had decided that Ron's support was necessary.

Harry was just thinking of starting the interrogation session when he was interrupted by Ron's voice. "There's post for you, Harry."

Harry turned around to see Ron release a familiar owl after untying a scroll. He saw the seal on the scroll and immediately recognised it as a letter from St. Mungo's Hospital. What did they want now? He broke the seal and read the letter.

_Dear Mr Potter,_

This is in reference to the post-mortem examination that our hospital had conducted for you a few days ago. I understand that the cause of death has been stated as chronic lead poisoning, but after further analysis of reports of the symptoms found in the victim, as well as other autopsy findings, I have been forced to reconsider my diagnosis.

It seems more plausible that the victim was subjected to lead poisoning over a mere few months (just maybe two to three) rather than a year, classifying the case to one of

_**sub-acute lead poisoning.**_

The medico-legal importance of this new finding prompted me to write this letter to you. I am extremely sorry about any inconvenience caused due to my previous misleading diagnosis.

Yours truly,  
Healer Jeffrey Cotton  
Head of Department of Forensic Medicine  
St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

Harry stared at the letter for a while, realising how much about the case this letter had just changed. It was lucky that he had received the letter just before he was about to interrogate the kids…

"What is it about?" Ron asked.

Harry went behind his desk and pulled out a small stack of parchment. He had made a trip to St. Mungo's hospital the previous evening and had Healer Cotton explain everything about lead poisoning to him. He stared down at the first page and spoke to Ron. "The girl, Abigail Clarke, died of lead poisoning. I visited Healer Cotton yesterday and he told me about three types of lead poisoning— acute, sub-acute and chronic, all of which are sorted according to the time taken for the onset of the symptoms. Acute is the fastest, sub-acute is medium rate and chronic is slowest, in which case you may go on for years without knowing that you're being poisoned."

"Okay," said Ron. "So what did the Clarke girl have?"

"The Healer told me at first that it was chronic— meaning somebody had been poisoning her slowly and surely for a long time. But now he's written to me again, saying she died of sub-acute poisoning."

"Which means…"

"She has been poisoned over two or three months and not a year," said Harry, consulting his notes again. He remembered those days when Hermione did all the explaining and he and Ron just listened. This now was so complicated…

"So we have to look for stuff that happened not very long ago."

"Yes, but it's not just that."

"What else?" Ron asked, sitting on a chair.

"The Healer told me about the usual routes by which all the three types of lead poisoning happen. Like— the acute and sub-acute types occur when lead is taken in by mouth, while chronic lead poisoning happens when it is applied to the skin or inhaled or taken in by mouth in really small quantities."

"So now since the poisoning is er… sub-acute," said Ron slowly, "somebody had just mixed up the damned thing with her food and drinks?"

"Looks like it," said Harry.

"Must have been one hell of a task. It's not easy to lace somebody's food and drinks with poison without them or anyone else noticing."

"Well, however difficult it was, the culprit must have been extremely intelligent."

Ron thought about it for a while and suddenly, he was looking at Harry with a scared, guilty expression. "Blimey, Harry, don't tell Hermione about this or I'll be the next one to die of lead poisoning… but… you don't think Rosie might have a hand in this, do you? I mean, after all that Malfoy nonsense which happened to occur three months ago…"

"Nah, she's a good kid, Ron," said Harry, hoping for the umpteenth time that Al wasn't involved, either. He too seemed to have started smoking about three months ago. And there was something else that Harry hadn't mentioned to Ginny. He had overheard Lily talking to James about something when they had come home for their Christmas holidays and had thought nothing about it until now.

"_Al fancies this girl called Abby, James, but she refused to be his girlfriend! Isn't that sad? He's been so upset…"_

* * *

"Rosie."

Rosie felt the colour drain from her face when she heard her father call her to Uncle Harry's study. This was it. They were going to interrogate her. She felt a lump in her throat as she entered the room, butterflies fluttering about in her stomach. Would she be given Veritaserum during the interrogation? If so, what would happen when the truth would come out…?

_Rose and Scorpius locked their lips for the second time, enjoying every moment of it. It was dark and almost time for dinner, but they were neither hungry nor bothered. The huge tree behind which they stood covered them from everyone's view and they didn't have to worry about anybody watching._

Normally, Rose wouldn't be bothered about anyone finding out that she had a boyfriend, but this was different. This was not just any boyfriend— it was

_**Scorpius Malfoy**__._

Rose had been open about being in a relationship with Scorpius too, but an incident had changed everything. She had written to her parents saying that she had a boyfriend, promising to reveal his name at Christmas, if they were still going strong until then. Then disaster struck when her father took up the job of taking care of the Hogsmeade branch of the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes joke shop for the particular weekend when all the Hogwarts students were to visit Hogsmeade.

Rose's father not only heard a lot of students discussing her and Scorpius (they did happen to be a popular couple), he also spotted her walking hand in hand with Scorpius. She, however, did not know her father was in Hogsmeade because the latter had decided to surprise her and Hugo.

All hell broke lose after that. For some reason, Rose's father was not happy about her dating Scorpius and he asked her to break up with him immediately. When she asked why, he explained to her how Scorpius's family had all been Voldemort's supporters and how he didn't want his daughter to be recognised with a Malfoy in any way. That day, Rose left for Hogwarts, promising her father to break up with Scorpius. But she didn't do that.

That was exactly why Scorpius and she dramatised an entire scene of them breaking up and met sneakily in places where no one would find them. Only Al, Hugo, James and Lily knew that they were still together and they had been sworn to secrecy.

Presently, Rose pulled away from Scorpius and hugged him tight. "I wish we didn't have to keep this a secret, you know?" she whispered. "I want to be with you… I want to show you off. I love you…" she looked away, a blush appearing on her face.

He pulled away from her gently, his grey eyes reflecting love. "I love you too. Very much. And don't worry, one day, our parents will accept our relationship."

"Did your dad say something too?" she asked quietly.

"He had heard rumours… long ago. I don't think he was very happy. Mum was fine with it though."

"My Mum is cool too. It's Dad who got upset," said Rose sadly. "And I do hate to see Dad upset…"

"Is that why you're sneaking around with Malfoy, Rosie?" asked a familiar voice and Rose turned, startled to see Abby standing a few paces away, her hands on her hips.

"A— Abby…" Rose began, "how did you—"

"I'm writing to your Dad," interrupted Abby. "I think that's the only thing that's going to stop you from seeing this git. You did not even listen to me when I told you to stop seeing him before your Dad found out."

"I— I haven't been seeing him even now," lied Rose. "W—We just got caught up in the moment tonight and y—you know how—"

"Don't give me that crap, Rosie," said Abby. "I have been seeing you come here with him everyday. I'm going to write to your Dad and tell him about it."

"Excuse me?" said Rose, anger bubbling over suddenly. "But I think you ought to mind your own business."

"I would normally do that, but you're getting out of hand."

"Who are you to decide that? My Mum?!"

"No, your best friend."

Rose felt anger blaze inside her and fill every tiny particle of her body. "Thanks, but I can take care of myself. You and your boyfriend, in the meantime, must take care of your excessively large tongues that seem to be scanning a lot of throats that don't belong to either of you."

"That was an accident on Ian's part. Bri—"

"Bri didn't urge him to do anything, Abby. But of course, you're only going to be able to see that if you take your prying eyes off my matters. And what about you kissing Al? Was that an accident too?"

"I mistook him for—"

"— bullshit," spat Rose. "You knew exactly who he was. You were only avenging Ian for kissing Bri. Do you even see how much you've upset Al? Of course you don't! You don't have so much as an ability to see how much Ian is lying to you."

"You don't know what you're saying," said Abby menacingly. "For your information, Rosie, Ian, unlike your slimy boyfriend—"

"— is a cheating rat," said Rose. "Now get out of here and sort your own life before trying to interfere with mine, okay?"

Abby stared at her for a moment, before stalking away. Rose watched her leave, and looked at Scorpius with terrified eyes. "She won't write to my Dad, will she?"

"Nah," he replied. "Don't worry." He then chuckled at her angry, red face and hugged her. "You're the cutest thing when you get angry!"

"Blegh! Cheesy line," said Rose in a muffled voice. Simultaneously, they kissed again before parting for the night.

Rose finished dinner and went to the Common Room to find Abby in the corner, writing something. Feeling guilty, she went and sat next to her best friend. She was just going to apologise for being rude, when she realised that Abby was just signing a letter. Terrified, she looked at the name of the addressee. It was her father. Her jaw dropped. "Y— You aren't—"

"I am," Abby said and Rose noticed the former's pet owl fly in from the window and perch on the table.

"Please, Abby…"

"Break up with him, Rosie, and I won't send it."

"But why?"

"I'm just concerned…"

Rose wanted to cry. She couldn't break up with Scorpius. But at the same time, she loved her father too and she didn't want that letter to reach him. Scorpius had been a part of her life for a long time now, but who had been in her life first? Scorpius thought she was so pretty… but her father had thought that she was the most beautiful thing in the world when she had been born, covered in blood and Merlin knew what else. And of course there were a lot of other things which made her father so much more valuable than Scorpius.

"I'll break up with Scorpius," she sighed. Abby, however, locked up the letter in her cupboard instead of burning it or throwing it away and the next day, Rose broke up with Scorpius after breakfast. She didn't dare try to get back with Scorpius after that, fearing that Abby might send the letter. Abby accompanied Rose almost everywhere after that, annoying Rose so much that she stopped talking to Abby.

However, after a lot of apologies from Abby's side, Rose decided to forgive her. She didn't want to lose a best friend and a boyfriend all at once. But even after she was friends with Abby again, Rose had decided to teach her friend a good lesson.

So one night when she was alone, Rose pulled out a vial of transparent liquid from her cupboard and tipped some of it into Abby's water goblet. Abby had a special goblet from which she drank water while she was in the dormitory, so Rose was sure that she was having a dose of the potion every day.

As for the letter, Rose burned it the day Abby died.

"Rosie, are you listening to me?"

Rose broke out of her reverie to see Uncle Harry and her father, both giving her looks of concern. She nodded. "Yes."

"Okay, we were asking you to recount the events of that day from your point of view. Also tell us if you had noticed Abigail's symptoms at all, and for how long you had noticed it."

Rose launched into all her observations about Abby's symptoms and told them about how she had asked Abby to take the pregnancy test. She also recounted everything she could remember about how and where Abby had been ever since Rose had woken up on that fateful day till the time Abby had died.

"Did you know that Abigail was dead by the time you all had put her on the stretcher?"

Rose nodded. She had been aware of that. "But how— what was the cause for her death?" she asked.

Her father and uncle looked at each other, before her uncle decided that he could reply. "Lead poisoning. The poison was in either her food or drinks. Someone had been putting it there for a few months."

_Uh-oh._ Then Rose remembered something. "Scor— Malfoy s-said that he had seen Bri put something into Abby's goblet."

Thankfully, her father seemed to be more concerned about Brianna tipping something into Abby's goblet rather than the fact that Rose had spoken to Scorpius. "Did he say what it looked like?"

"Some transparent potion…"

"And how was Malfoy involved?" her uncle asked.

"He was there a few minutes before Abby tasted that weird thing in her goblet."

Uncle Harry frowned, before bending over and pulling out a clear bag with a cigarette stub in it. "Does this have anything to do with him? Did he smoke when you were with him?"

"He did," said Rose. "A-And… I think that stub belongs to a cigarette he smoked."

There was silence. "One last question, Rose," said Uncle Harry. "Do you remember Abigail wearing a ring…?"

"Oh yes!" replied Rose. "She had it locked in her cupboard recently, because it was loose and uncomfortable. She had grown terribly thin before she…" she took a deep breath, "died."

"Was the cupboard emptied after her death?"

"Yeah, but they emptied it in such a rush. They left a lot of her stuff behind. Maybe they left the ring too."

Uncle Harry looked at Rose's father. "Ron, could you have someone take Rosie to Hogwarts and get all those things that belonged to Abigail? And tell them while they're at it, to get Scorpius Malfoy here for interrogation. I don't believe anyone has spoken to him yet."


	7. The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back

**This chapter contains self injury. Do not read if it could to trigger you!**

**Author's Chapter Notes**:

First of all, I'd like to thank some of the Beta Forum members who had suggested this chapter title to me for another story some two years ago. I don't remember who those people were- but thank you! :)

I'd also like to thank theblacksister/TheBlackSister for Beta-ing this chapter.

Please do R/R, guys. :)

* * *

**7. The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back**

Ian watched Rose come out of Mr Potter's study and Al enter it. A shiver passed through his spine. It would be his turn soon… and a lot of questions would come his way too.

He looked at Brianna, admiring her long brown hair and light eyes. She was so pretty— so unlike the skinny, pimple-faced Abby who wouldn't let him free. And now, even after Abby was dead, Ian didn't think there was a way of getting together with Brianna. He had lost his chance long ago.

But could he just— say— give it another try? Maybe ask her now? She had rejected him three months ago. And now, in a very depressing way, he was single.

Merlin, wasn't he pathetic? He was trying to take advantage of someone's death. But Abby was gone and she wasn't coming back…

"Um… Bri?"

She turned to him rather reluctantly. "Yes, Ian."

"Can I talk to you in private?"

"No."

"Please…"

She sighed. "Okay. Not now, though."

"Please, Bri, I need to talk now…" he looked around for somewhere private.

"You can use Al's bedroom," said Mrs Potter, who had heard him.

"Will you come?" he asked Brianna.

"Wait for a while, I'll come," she said.

Feeling a little triumphant, he found his way around the familiar house to Al's room.

***

Al sat on the chair facing his father, a part of him fuming inside and the other part so scared that he wondered if he would be able to speak. He felt terribly angry that his own father was interrogating him and also afraid of what his father might find out if he told the truth. He'd really have to lie convincingly to be able to escape any of the horrible consequences that may follow.

Harry looked at him with the pair of green eyes that Al had inherited. "So, tell me what happened on the day when Abby Clarke died. From your point of view."

"Well, I woke up, dressed and went to the Great Hall for breakfast. Bri was there and Rose joined us. Then Malfoy came too and started trying to talk to Rose. Ian and Abby came; Ian had a verbal fight with Malfoy, who left. Abby tasted something in her pumpkin juice… and you know the rest."

"Malfoy had a fight with Ian?" Harry asked.

"A verbal fight," shrugged Al. "Nothing particularly specific. The usual 'you don't have guts to—' nonsense."

Harry nodded. "Abby died of lead poisoning, did you know that?"

"Nope," said Al. "You just told me."

"Did you see anyone tip anything into her goblet— or notice anyone behaving suspicious?"

"No," said Al again.

Then Harry reached over and grabbed a plastic bag from below his desk. He placed it at the top. "Do you know anything about this? It was found right where the five of you were sitting that day."

Al's heart missed a beat. It was a cigarette stub— and it seemed to belong to the brand he smoked. "It— it wasn't m—mine," he blurted, realizing his mistake at once.

"Did I say it was?" Harry asked him gently. Al looked down, his heart racing. "So what was the relationship between you and Abby?" Harry asked again.

"Normal… like friends," said Al, not meeting eyes with his Dad.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Did you like her?"

"Of course not!" he blurted again, but managed to correct himself. "I mean, I didn't like her like _that._"

Harry nodded and Al thought he saw hurt in his father's eyes. Uncle Ron was sitting in the background quietly, not uttering a word. Harry, however, patted Al's shoulder and said quietly, "you may go."

Relieved, he got up. He had thought about the possible involvement of Veritaserum and Merlin knew what else. But this had been just normal questioning!

"Al?"

He turned around. "Yes, Dad?"

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

His father knew exactly what was going on. Al had known his father long enough to be aware that if he asked Al about anything he'd like to tell him, it meant he had found out something that Al had chosen to hide.

"No, Dad," he said defiantly. Previously, Al had always confessed everything to his father. But this time, it was not possible. Just then, Uncle Ron left his chair and promptly exited the room. Al knew at once that there was no escaping this.

"Sit down," said Harry again, and Al decided to do as his father said. Harry sighed. "Have you really been smoking?"

"Don't you have to interrogate the others?"

"They can wait, Al, I want an answer now."

"Look Dad— I don't know where this is coming from. I don't smoke, okay?"

"So was Lily lying?"

"Lily?"

"She saw you smoking… it was a little before Christmas. I heard James tried to talk you out of it, too."

There was silence for a minute. Then Harry spoke again. "Is there anything that Ginny and I have done— or haven't done? You can tell us everything. You know that, don't you?"

"I— I don't need to talk about it, okay?" said Al, his voice breaking. "Just let me be…"

Before his father could speak again, he was out of the study. He rushed to the stairs and took them. His room was just a few paces away from the landing. He got in, bolted the door behind him and lay on his bed. He didn't want to speak to anyone. He so wished he could just get to Hogwarts already…

***

"Brianna," said Mr Weasley and Brianna stood up, her hands sweating. It was her turn now. She hadn't eventually gone and spoken to Ian, but he could wait. Now the most important thing on her mind was this scary interrogation.

Brianna licked her lips and entered Mr Potter's study along with Mr Weasley.

***

Brianna wasn't coming… she didn't want to speak to him. Ian could feel the disappointment cloud him and fill every part of him. He searched in the pocket of his jeans and found his knife at once. Looking at the shiny blade with anticipation, he entered the bathroom. But as he did so, he did not hear Al enter his own bedroom and lock the door.

***

Scorpius played with his stew mindlessly, trying to get some food down his throat but failing terribly. He was distracted today and nothing could help it. He so wished that the day would be over already so he could get back to classes and have something to divert his mind with…

"Mr Malfoy."

Scorpius looked up, alert. Professor Robins, his House Head was standing right before him. "Yes, sir?" asked Scorpius.

"You are needed." Professor Robins gestured to the door and Scorpius saw Professor Vector and a strange man standing outside. Scorpius got up from his place and immediately left the Great Hall to meet the Headmistress.

Professor Vector looked grim, while the other man seemed to have a sullen expression stuck on his face for good. "Follow us, Mr Malfoy," the Headmistress said grimly still and Scorpius followed them, wondering what was up. Did this have something to do with the Clarke girl's death? Scorpius hoped not.

***

Ian sat down on the bathroom floor. He hated his life… he hated all of it. Nobody knew about the all the trouble he had been through in the last few months. Nobody. And all the trouble had been because of Abby Clarke.

_Ian was shocked when Brianna promptly asked him to break up with Abby before even touching her. He had lied to Brianna when he said that he had already tried to break up with Abby. In truth, it was not easy to give Abby any kind of bad news. She would cry, weep, swivel and cling on to him even more. She was like quick sand. She could get so soggy; you'd only be pulled in deeper._

Ian waited for a week after the whole Brianna incident, because Abby simultaneously seemed to be having some kind of problem with Rose too. In a few days, she was all sorted with Rose, but the downside of it was that she seemed to be clinging on even tighter to Ian for some reason. She was excessively sappy, mushy and whatever else that was— she wouldn't even let him be.

He was in a dilemma for a few days before he realised that he could use her new behaviour as an excuse to initiate a break-up. She'd cry in that weird, squealing way of hers, but she'd recover. So one evening, just before dinner, he said it. They were both in the Common Room. "Abby… I need to talk to you."

"Okay," she said brightly. She then held both his hands in hers. "What is it?"

"We… this is not working out…"

"What?"

"You know— you and I."

The colour drained from her face. "I… need you to come with me," she said quietly. She then led him out of the Common Room.

He followed her quietly, not uttering a single word. He could recognise the route they were taking, but he said nothing. Finally, they were standing in the open, isolated Astronomy Tower. She turned to him, and he saw that her eyes were red. Uh-oh, she was about to cry. He didn't want to hear her squeals ever again in his life. Immediately, he cupped her face in his hands. "Hey, Abs—"

"If you break up with me, Ianie," she said, as he tried not to vomit, "I'll jump from here."

He felt anger swirl into his senses. "Is that a threat?" he asked quietly.

"No," she said, a tear rushing down her cheek. "Would I ever do that to you, Ianie? I— just don't want to live without you."

Oh God, where did she get all that sappy crap from? "I can't help it, Abby," he said. "I don't love you anymore!"

She broke into squealing sobs and Ian considered jumping from the tower himself as she threw her arms around him. "Please d-don't l-leave me! I l-love you s-so m-much!" He could feel her tears and snot wet his shirt and he wished he had let her jump. Abby dead would be better than this, at least. But no, he would be trapped in all sorts of investigations if he let her die like that…

With great difficulty, Ian decided not to break up with Abby. Thankfully, Christmas holidays came along soon enough and he spent a peaceful few weeks in Ireland, where he met Brianna occasionally (she lived in his neighbourhood and they had known each other since before Hogwarts because their Muggle fathers worked together.)

However, when they returned from their holidays, Abby seemed even more crazy about him. About a month ago, she proved that she couldn't get more obsessed— by having sex with him readily even though she'd never really wanted to lose her virginity before she was at least seventeen. But that day, he realised that he didn't want to leave Abby, after all. Bri would never agree to have sex with him and at least he was getting that with Abby.

Ian looked at his narrow reflection in the knife blade. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to go back to Abby. She would accept him with open arms— unlike Bri, who didn't seem to want him even now. Sure, Abby was a pain, but she was right for him. He wanted to be with her… but he couldn't.

Gritting his teeth, he rolled back his sleeve and touched the blade of the knife to his skin, drawing out blood as he ran it along his flesh. This would lessen the pain… this would lessen the pain…

***

Scorpius knew that he was being taken for something related to the Clarke girl's death as soon as he noticed Rose waiting in the Entrance Hall for him and the grim-faced Auror (Vector had left).

Rose was carrying a small bag and she didn't so much as look at Scorpius when the two of them along with Auror walked to the main gate. When they entered Hogsmeade, the Auror held out his arms— one for each of them to hold on to— before Disapparating with them.

They arrived outside a house that Scorpius could only guess was Potter's. The Auror nodded to the both of them and Disapparated again, while they proceeded to the doorway. Rose rang the doorbell and her mother opened it for them. Scorpius briefly wondered what his father— and most of all, his grandfather would have to say if he told them he had been taken for questioning on the Clarke girl's case. Well, he wouldn't tell them. That is, if everything went right and they didn't find out.

Scorpius had always hated Murray and Clarke. They were a pathetic excuse for a couple. But Clarke annoyed him about a million times more than Murray. The reason was that she had spoiled the relationship he had had with Rose. She had made his life miserable. And Scorpius had always wanted something similar to happen to their couple one day.

The day he had overheard Rose mentioning Clarke's symptoms to Potter during Potions one day, he had realised that it was all working. Soon, Murray would know what it was like to be separated from someone you loved beyond all rationality. And if there was afterlife, Clarke would suffer even more by watching Murray suffer anyway.

Abby Clarke had died two weeks before Scorpius had mentally predicted her death, but she had died nonetheless. Now he had had his revenge.

Scorpius sat on an armchair, as Flynn came out of a room on the far end of the living room. But before he could think of anything else, he heard a loud bang and rushing, thumping footsteps. Albus Potter was in the living room, his face fearful. "Ian!" he said, trying to catch his breath. "Ian… is dead!"

***

Al lay on his bed quietly, trying to get rid of all his thoughts. His father knew about everything… he would get back to him eventually. What could he do? How could he escape…?

He suddenly heard a sound from his bathroom and sat up. What was that? "Is someone there?" he asked tentatively.

There was no reply. "Hello?" Al repeated again. Instinctively, he walked to the door and tried it. It was unlocked. But what he saw inside shocked him. Ian was sprawled on the floor his face pale and his eyes tightly shut. A cut in his wrist had produced a small stream of blood which stained the previously pristine white tiles. And up Ian's arm, was the word 'Abby'. He had cut her name into his skin and then sliced his wrist.


	8. The Hand that Rocks the Cradle

Author's Chapter Notes:

"_**The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.'— William Ross Wallace.**___

I do believe in that one, all right. Mothers are so magical! I miss my mum all the time and I crave to go home just to see her and be with her. When I'm having a bad day and she calls me to talk to me, it feels wonderful. :)

Anyway, this chapter is for all the mothers on this planet. I don't know how you guys do it, but you all rock!

I would like to thank my Beta, TheBlackSister/theblacksister for all her inputs and correction. You're the very best, Alice! :)

Please leave me your thoughts, guys, I love reviews! ;)

* * *

**8. The Hand that Rocks the Cradle**

Al sank onto his bed as his father and uncle rushed into the loo to Ian's body. His mother and Aunt were at the doorway, while Rose and Brianna were sitting on his bed, as shocked as him. Malfoy had not moved from his armchair in the living room.

"He's alive," his father declared in less than a minute. "Very feeble pulse, though…"

In a moment, his father and uncle were carrying Ian out of the bathroom, Ian's wound leaving behind a thin trail of blood as they left. Al's mother cleaned up the trail of blood on the floor, but let the bathroom floor be as it was. Al, Brianna and Rose descended back to the living room, too shocked to talk even to each other. Aunt Hermione, in the meantime, went into the kitchen and got the shocked children some snacks. A few minutes passed in utter silence, until an owl arrived from Al's father stating that Ian had been admitted into St. Mungo's and would be well in a few hours.

There was a sigh of relief in the living room. Al had just finished the last of the biscuits when Ginny spoke to him suddenly. "Al, I have to talk to you."

"Now?" he asked, looking around at his friends. He was sure now that his parents had found out something about him that they shouldn't have known.

"Yes, now." She stood up and took the path to her room. Sighing, Al stood up and followed her.

***

Brianna went over to the backyard once Al left with his mother and Rose was left with just Scorpius and her own mother. Her mother was looking from Scorpius to Rose intently and Rose knew that her mother was aware that she and Scorpius still had feelings for each other.

Finally, Hermione looked at Scorpius. "Would you mind if I spoke to Rose privately for a while?"

He shook his head and left the room, making his way to the backyard. The moment he was gone, Hermione sat right beside Rose on the couch. "What is it, Rosie? What's troubling you?"

She looked at her mother. "It's— it's nothing, Mum… I'm okay… not." And before she knew it, she was blurting everything to her mother.

***

The first thing he felt was a sharp pain in his hand— then a pang of disappointment. Ian took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He was slowly coming to terms that he wasn't dead. Dead people didn't feel physical pain.

There was a gasp as he opened his eyes to a clean, white environment. He felt a familiar hand stroke his forehead and felt relaxed at once. His mother was here to see him…

"Awake, are you, Mr Murray?" asked a voice and Ian's eyes swivelled towards a skinny woman in lime-green robes, who was fast approaching him from an office nearby. She took his temperature, pulse and measured his blood pressure with a weird vine-like thing. Then she poured out a goblet full of strange-smelling potion and handed it to him. "Drink up."

He did not raise any questions about the potion and drank it up promptly. The Healer was back in her office and his mother was looking at him silently. When he was comfortable and rested again, she bent over and kissed his forehead. "Thank Merlin that you're up. Your father and I were so scared."

"Where am I?"

"This is St. Mungo's Hospital. How are you?"

He looked away. "I'm okay. Where's Dad?"

"I Apparated to this place as soon as I got the news. Dad is at home— I decided to come over alone since I got news that you were all right."

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"An hour." She paused and sighed. "Is there… a problem?"

"No."

"Then why did you—?"

"I wasn't trying to kill myself."

She lifted the sleeve of his robe and showed him his left arm.

_ABBY_

The wound had completely healed, but the scar was there. It would be there for life.

His mother spoke quietly. "Is that why you wrote to me saying you wanted a transfer to Beauxbatons?"

He didn't reply to her question and she continued. "I've enrolled you there. You can start as soon as Abby's case is solved."

"I want to start going there as soon as possible," he said. He had no strength to wait and watch every painful fragment of Abby's case put together so that all the old memories of her could come back to haunt him. He wanted out.

"You can't leave before they solve her case."

"Why?"

"Mr Potter has asked us to keep you in Hogwarts till the culprit is caught."

"But what are they going to do, keeping me here? I'm not some quick source to—"

"Look, Ian," said his mother, "There are Auror instructions for you to stay here. Just do it. They may only take a day or two, after all!"

Ian sighed. "Okay, I'll stay. But I'm not staying for a minute more than required."

"Okay," agreed his mother. "You can come home the day the case is solved."

He nodded and shut his eyes, wondering how he'd get through the investigations at all.

***

"Al, your father and I are very upset with you."

Al looked down at his hands, unable to face his mother. So his parents knew… they knew about everything.

"Is it true that you smoke?"

Al decided that honesty was the best policy. "I'm sorry, Mum," he muttered.

"And your grades… Professor Vector wrote to your father saying that you've got Ps and Ds in all of the essays you've submitted in the last few months. Is there a problem?"

"I- I haven't been able to concentrate…" he muttered.

"Why, Al? Is it us? What is it? Tell us, we can help!"

"You can't," he said.

"At least try telling me, sweetheart. Is it something we did wrong? Is it something we didn't do? Did someone hurt you?"

Al didn't answer the question. He didn't want to explain it to his mother. She would never understand.

His mother put an arm around him. "Has it got something to do with James and Lily? With Abby?"

Al looked up at his mother, two fat tears falling out of his eyes.

***

"I haven't been good, Mum," said Rose quietly to her mother. "I have been a terrible friend."

"No, Rosie, you're a good girl. I'm sure you—"

Rose interrupted her mother. "I… I think I have a hand in Abby's death."

***

"Mrs Murray?"

Ian broke out of his light slumber the moment he heard Mr Potter's voice, but kept his eyes shut nonetheless. What was he doing here?!

"Is Ian awake?" asked Mr Potter again.

"He was very tired," Ian's mother replied. "He's asleep, but he'll be awake in a while."

"Okay, we will be waiting outside," said Mr Potter and Ian mentally swore as he left. There was no way out of the painful questioning.

***

"So you had feelings for Abby," said Ginny, tightening her grip around her son as he wiped his eyes.

He nodded. "S-She was with Ian, b-but I couldn't help it."

"Did you start smoking because of that?"

He nodded. It was true he had tried a cigarette because he had thought his parents did not love him enough— but he had truly started smoking because of the incident with Abby. "She kissed me one night," he said. "I thought she had feelings for me too, but it turned out she was getting back at Ian who had kissed Bri that night. She used me— she never thought of me as anything more than a friend…"

His mother hugged him. "Well, she made a mistake by using you and losing your respect for her. It was totally her loss."

"I loved her…"

His mother did not seem to have a reply for that. He just felt her hand move through his hair as she tried to comfort him. Then she said something else. "Your father and I love you very much, Al… as much as we love James and Lily. We think you're as capable of having a bright future as James is and are equally happy with you for being a Prefect, as we were with him. We can never think of differentiating you from James and Lily. You are all equal. All three of you mean the world to us…" she hugged him tighter. "James may be achieving things before you, but that doesn't mean that we aren't proud of you when you achieve the same things. It only makes us happier to see the two of you walk down such a bright path. You understand that, don't you, sweetheart?"

Al felt guilt fill him up. He had been lying to his parents and hurting them… all because of a misconception. How could he have allowed himself to think like that? How could he have suspected that his parents thought he was less capable than his siblings? Today, he was involved in a murder case and even then, they seemed to have complete faith in him. They trusted him.

"Any amount of achievement on your or James' part does not change who you both are," said his mother. "And you are unique in your very own way, Al. You are caring, sweet, loving and—" she chuckled, "much less of a trouble-maker than your brother. I've received so many letters from Hogwarts about his pranks and rule-breaking… but all Neville and Hagrid tell about you when they write to your father is that you're the most delightful child they've ever met. You take care of your sister so well— you are responsible, well-behaved… and I swear in the name of Merlin that your father and I wanted three children from the very beginning and we really didn't care about how many of them turned out to be male or female. We were as happy to have you and James as we were to have Lily. I've told you before and I'm telling you this time, too— let go of these insecurities, sweetheart. They will only hold you back in life."

There was silence as Al took deep breaths. Somehow, the way his mother had explained everything to him made him believe her completely. How could he have misunderstood her earlier? How pathetic was he? "I'm sorry, Mum," he said again, the guilt pressing him. "I've been a prat. I'll work hard and be like I always was. And I'll never smoke again. I'll put a stop to it."

"I'll be relieved if you do," said his mother. Then she kissed his cheek. "And Abby is gone. You may have loved her, but you have too long a life ahead of you to sit and wallow about her never being yours."

"I won't wallow," he promised his mother, "but I'll miss her." He looked into his mother's eyes. "Dad knows I did not kill her, doesn't he?"

"Of course he does," replied his mother. "Both of us trust you fully. We are very aware that you'll never harm anyone you care for. And I know it will be hard without Abby, but all four of you will have to get over it. She would want all of you to resume your lives."

"I know she would," said Al. "She was always so caring… she hated seeing any of us sad."

His mother held him tight as a few more tears escaped him and he felt good— comforted. It was as though a huge burden had lifted off him. And he promised himself one thing. He'd be the Al he was before he had fallen head over heels for Abby. He would stop smoking, study hard like he always did and work on being a better person. He also realised that parents were the only people who loved you no matter who you were or how you looked… or anything. They loved you unconditionally. No matter what, Al decided never to hurt his parents again.

***

"Scorpius told me that he saw Bri tipping some kind of potion into Abby's drinks sometimes," Rose paused, but her mother did not have anything to say. Rose spoke again, "Well— if Bri was actually trying to kill Abby, I know why she did it."

"You should tell your father about this," said her mother finally.

"I can't," whispered Rose.

"I'm not the right person for this, Rosie."

"Please, Mum… you're the only person I can talk to," said Rose, her voice breaking.

Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Is it something serious?"

"Yes," whispered Rose.

***

Brianna stood up from her spot in the backyard. Malfoy was sitting a few paces away, but he didn't say anything as she entered the house. She wondered why he was sitting here instead of inside the house, anyway.

She walked into the kitchen and heard sounds from the living room. It was Rose. "Scorpius told me that he saw Bri tipping some kind of potion into Abby's drinks sometimes." There was a pause. "Well— if Bri was actually trying to kill Abby, I know why she did it."

Brianna stopped in her tracks. If it was a conversation about her, then she may as well listen to it…

***

"Ian lost his interest in Abby a few months ago. He liked Bri," said Rose. "But Abby wouldn't leave him."

"Did Brianna like him too?" asked Hermione.

"Yes," said Rose. "Ian and Brianna liked each other a lot. All Ian wanted was a break-up with Abby so he could get together with Bri as soon as possible."

"So where do you come into the picture?"

"Well… do you remember how Dad found out about me and Scorpius and did not support our relationship?"

"Yes," said Hermione.

"It's just that… we never broke up even after that. And Abby, who always hated Scorpius, threatened to write a letter to Dad and tell him about us. So after that, I really had to break up with Scorpius. I was very angry with Abby for it. So… I started lacing her drinks too— with a potion from Uncle George's shop."

Hermione sighed. "Rosie… what did you do?"

"You know that love potion that makes the drinker fall in love with the person you choose…?"

"You chose Ian, didn't you?"

"I- I just wanted Abby to fall harder for Ian while he desperately tried to distance himself from her, so she'd get a taste of her own medicine. She'd know how it feels to want to be with someone so ardently and be unable to do it."

"Rosie," said Hermione, "Why did you do that? Abby was genuinely concerned about you. You, on the other hand, tried to ruin her life."

"I didn't know what I was doing. I realised how much Abby had cared for me only after she died."

"You should have thought of that sooner, you know."

Rose looked down. "I'm sorry…"

"Why are you apologising to me?" asked her mother. "It was Abby you should have said sorry to."

Rose sighed. "I wish I'd done that too…"

Her mother shook her head. "So where does Brianna step in, then?"

"She— she wanted to be with Ian as much as he wanted to be with her. I think the way Abby constantly tried to grab Ian may have really irked her and…"

"But you can't suspect her like that, dear. You don't know what really happened."

"She's the only one with the real motive, Mum."

"Have you discussed this with your father?"

"I told him and Uncle Harry about Bri spiking Abby's drinks with the strange potion."

Hermione nodded. "Don't worry, then. It's not your fault, okay?"

"I hope so."

There was a pause. "Why don't you bring Scorpius in?" asked Hermione. "I want to talk to him."

Rose nodded and got up, making her way to the backyard. But what she saw there shocked her. Brianna was talking to Scorpius! Rose had never seen that happen. Brianna had always preferred to ignore Scorpius's existence. She stopped in her tracks but they continued talking— they hadn't noticed her.

"What was the need to tell Rosie about the potion?" hissed Brianna. "And you were involved too. You didn't tell her that, did you? What if they—?"

"They won't do anything," replied Scorpius. "I don't know why you're so worried about it."

Brianna was about to say something, but she suddenly noticed Rose. Glaring at the latter, she walked into the house. Then Scorpius turned to look at Rose and she felt a shiver pass through her. His grey eyes had always been so endearing to her… but for the first time, she was seeing something else in them. Today, they were cold and furious. They were the eyes of a killer.


	9. In the End

**Author's Chapter Notes**:

So... here I am, presenting the last chapter of this story. I have really enjoyed writing this, I must say! Thank you, Kara, for the wonderful Mysterious May prompts that gave me some of the most interesting forty days of my life! :)

I'd also like to thank all you readers for staying put through this novella. Also, thank you to my reviewers, especially a lovely person who responded to each chapter without fail - cc4s - I can't quite express how grateful I am! You've made my month! :)

And of course, there's the most wonderful element of writing this story- getting it Beta'd by my lovely Beta, theblacksister/TheBlackSister. You rock, Alice! I don't know how this would have been without you.

All information about lead poisoning- the symptoms, cure, everything was taken from my textbook of toxicology and Wikipedia.

Do R/R, guys! :)

* * *

**9. In the End**

Harry ran his hands through his hair as he studied the papers he had prepared on the five kids after their interrogation. He had written all the details down, and yet there was no link between Abby's death and either of them. True: there were motives all around, but none of the motives were strong enough. Plus, Al and Rose had confessed themselves completely to Ginny and Hermione respectively— and though they both had motives, there was as much chance of either of them being the culprit as there was of Voldemort coming back and kissing Harry. Harry knew this because Hermione and Ginny were both mothers and the last thing he could do was underestimate a mother's magic— having survived from Voldemort's Killing Curse because of it in the first place.

He stared at the papers on his table and read through the information he had written down.

_**1. Brianna Flynn**_

_Age- 15 yrs_

_Relationship with victim- Roommate, friend_

_Motive- Shared common romantic interest with victim— Ian Murray_

_Alibis- None_

_Spotted lacing victim's drinks with 'transparent potion.' Culprit(?)_

_**2. Ian Murray**_

_Age- 16 yrs_

_Relationship with victim- Romantic involvement_

_Motive- Refusal of victim to end romantic relationship_

_Alibis- None_

_Subject has attempted to commit suicide. Reason— unknown. Culprit(?)_

_**3. Scorpius Malfoy**_

_Age- 16 yrs_

_Relationship with victim- Romantically involved with roommate of victim_

_Motive- Annoyed with Victim for breaking his relationship with Rose Weasley._

_Alibis- None_

_Subject smokes the same brand of cigarette as was found in the scene of crime. A few threatening statements directing towards the victim have been reported. Culprit(?)_

_**4. Albus Potter**_

_Age- 15 yrs_

_Relationship with victim- Friend_

_Motive- Romantically rejected by victim_

_Alibis- None_

_Again, subject smokes the same brand of cigarette as was found in the scene of crime._

_**5. Rose Weasley**_

_Age- 15 yrs_

_Relationship with victim- friend, roommate_

_Motive- Again, annoyed with victim for breaking her relationship with Scorpius Malfoy._

_Subject has confessed to mixing a unique love potion with victim's drink. Probably not the same one as Brianna Flynn's potion._

Harry licked his lips as he finished reading the paper. He had noticed something for the first time— all the five kids whose information charts he had prepared seemed to have one similarity in their motives— it all had something to do with Abby trying to ruin their romantic lives in some way.

In his life, Harry had never thought that adolescent love could kill— not even with Romilda Vane and that love potion incident. Now he knew better than to underestimate teenage crushes.

Rose opened her eyes to the harsh sunrays falling on her face and sat up on her bed at once. The sun falling on her face could mean only one thing— she had overslept!

Rose got out of bed and rushed into the bathroom, wondering why Bri hadn't woken her up. Then she remembered that Bri wasn't talking to her ever since she overheard her telling her mother that she suspected Bri. Last evening, Rose had only received glares from her best friend— and Rose didn't blame her. She would be equally angry if her best friend suspected her.

Rose was dressed and ready for classes in a few minutes and she realised she still had a little bit of time for breakfast. Hurrying over to the Great Hall, she spotted Al, Ian and Bri all finishing breakfast, all of them noticing her but only Ian and Al acknowledging it. Ian had been discharged from St. Mungo's last night and he was more depressed than ever. Rose felt sorry for him.

Ignoring the murderous stares that Bri was giving her, Rose sat next to Al. He handed her a full goblet of pumpkin juice and some toast on a plate. "We thought we'd save some food for you."

"Thanks," said Rose quietly.

"Oh, don't give that to her, Al," said Brianna exasperatedly from the other end. "I may have poisoned it for all you know. I killed Abby so that I could have Ian for myself, you see."

Rose felt tears fill up her eyes. "Bri…"

"You still think I'm the killer, don't you?" asked Brianna blandly. "You know what? I'm not even going to care, now. Go on and think what you like. You are not a saint either, anyway. You spiked Abby's water with Love Potion." She stood up and walked away.

"Bri…" Al followed her out, trying to get her to stay.

Ian in the meantime, had dropped his bag with a thud. "What?!"

"I'm sorry," whispered Rose in a small voice. She picked up Ian's bag and gave it back to him.

"Why did you do that, Rosie?" Ian asked her earnestly as he took it from her.

Rose gulped down all of her pumpkin juice before answering him and standing up herself. "I… wanted to teach her a lesson." She explained the potion to Ian.

"And I thought she was being clingy!" said Ian. "I was trying to blow her off… and… it wasn't her fault at all." He looked very upset.

"Let's go," said Al, coming back to their table, apparently having failed to calm Brianna. "The bell will ring any minute now."

They walked out of the Great Hall to see Scorpius standing outside. Brianna was there too but she took off before Rose, Al and Ian could reach her. However, Rose couldn't help but notice the tiny nod that Brianna gave him as she walked away.

Rose's head was positively throbbing when they sat for Potions. The cold dungeons and the suffocating smell of the brews irritated her and she longed to sleep in her dormitory. She stirred her potion feverishly as Professor Robins; their Potions master looked around at everyone's concoction.

After half-an-hour, Rose was not feeling well at all. Her head was aching worse than ever and she was so tired. She couldn't think or concentrate. Worse still, Scorpius was constantly staring at her. Adding a few more ingredients, she stirred her potion more when something hit her. She remembered how she'd had the pumpkin juice that morning without thinking twice. And then she recollected Brianna and Scorpius's silent exchange outside the Great Hall.

Of course! This wasn't a normal headache! Rose made a quick decision. "Professor Robins?"

"Yes, Miss Weasley?"

"May I be excused? I— am not feeling well."

"Yes, of course," he said and Rose rushed out of the classroom, all eyes upon her. She ran to her dormitory and opened the common chest of drawers where Bri kept all of her mother's Muggle medicines (her mother was a doctor.) Finally, Rose found what she was looking for. She uncapped the potion and poured some of it into her mouth.

She sat on her bed, waiting for the medicine to start showing its effects. If this didn't work, she didn't know what would…

Five minutes later, Rose rushed into the bathroom and discarded all of her breakfast with a few retches. Relieved, she staggered out. She had read in a lot of books that the first cure to poisoning was induced vomiting. And then there was the antidote.

Slightly dizzy, Rose made her way out of the Gryffindor Common Room. There was just one person who could brew her a quick antidote— Ian. Going to Madam Pomfrey was out of question. The matron would include Rose's parents in this and Rose wanted to sort this out herself before telling her father for sure about Scorpius and Bri.

Fortunately, Ian was on his way along with Al to the Gryffindor Common Room. "Rosie—!" he began, but Rose interrupted him.

"I need you to brew me an antidote."

"For what?"

"Lead poisoning."

He was confused. "B—But that's not a magical poison!"

"You remember how they taught us about the antidotes that stop the poison from being absorbed by the body?"

Ian nodded. "Yes, but—"

"Please do it, Ian, you're the fastest potion brewer I know."

He looked around. "Okay. Let's go do it in the Room of Requirement, then."

Harry squinted at the book on his table, remembering his school days before Hogwarts. He had been fairly good at science and maths then, but coming back to them felt strange. He had bought a school level chemistry textbook off a Muggle bookstore to read up about lead and its compounds. Lead, he had read, was an element which formed a lot of salts. But since Abby seemed to have taken in the poison by mouth, it should have been a salt that dissolved in water, at least. And colourless— so that she wouldn't notice.

So there was Lead chloride, Lead nitrate, Lead sulphide… no… that was black… Lead chloride and Lead nitrate were easy to obtain, though, so they made good sense as poisons.

Harry scratched his head. He was thankful he was an Auror and not a graduate in Chemistry.

Rose put her head in her arms to block out the dizziness as Ian brewed the potion as quickly as he could. "How much longer?" Rose asked weakly.

"Just a minute…" said Ian. Rose heard him pour some of the potion into a goblet after that. He approached her and thrust it in her hand. "Here. Drink it up quick. Then you'll need to go get some rest in your dorm. We can take you to Madam Pomfrey in the evening." Rose felt him put an arm around her. "Who did this to you, Rosie?"

Rose took a sip of the antidote, its astringent taste disgusting her a little. It burned her throat as it went down and she gasped. Ian rubbed her back and repeated his question. "Who did this to you?"

"It's… it's Scorpius and Bri," Rose gasped. The strange taste of the antidote was making her feel nauseous, but she willed herself not to throw up again. She had to keep the antidote in, no matter what.

"Malfoy? _Bri?_" Ian whispered, shocked. "Rosie, you've got to tell your uncle now! They just tried to attack you! And there's no saying they'll not do it again."

"I- I can't! I—"

"I'll do it," said Ian firmly. "I'll Floo a message to your Uncle." He looked around and a fireplace materialised right behind him. He rushed to his bag, tore a piece of paper and got it to Rose, handing her a quill too. "Write the message on this. I'll send it through the Floo network."

Rose took the quill and wrote on the parchment with trembling hands.

Ian took the slip and put a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace. He shouted out Al's address before throwing the parchment in. Just as it vanished in the fire, there was a bang and someone entered the Room of Requirement. Rose squinted from her position to see Malfoy stride towards her and Ian. Then, without warning, he punched Ian. The latter, caught unawares, staggered and fell back. His eyes shining with rage, Scorpius knelt in front of Rose. Before she could do anything, he produced a vial from his pocket, uncorked it and poured a transparent potion into Rose's mouth.

Harry emptied the bag of Abby's things that Rose had handed to him last evening. He looked at all of the small things that had been left behind accidentally. The ring was there and so were a few other things like Abby's make-up, her socks, and a couple of hair clips…

None of these things could be associated with Abby's murder, though. But the culprit was quite good at spiking Abby's food or drinks with lead. Nobody had ever found out about it. How did they do it in the Great Hall full of people?

Unless… Harry remembered something. Merlin… the kids these days were clever! He had just opened his notes on lead poisoning when there was a crackling sound from his fireplace. He lit the fire with a swish of his wand and was astonished to see a chit fall out.

_Bri, Malfoy trying to attack me. SOS — Rose_

Harry stood up from his desk at once. He was going to Hogwarts.

Rose spat the pungent, metallic tasting potion right back at Scorpius as Ian rose from the floor and came to attack the former with a growl. Scorpius, though, was too strong for Ian. Ian having lost a good amount of blood just the previous day didn't seem to have recovered fully yet.

Scorpius wrestled Ian away from Rose and punched his face again, breaking his nose. A great splatter of blood spilled out of Ian's nose but his eyes were determined as he kneed Scorpius on his stomach. Even though he was visibly winded, Scorpius hit Ian on his face again, leaving the latter surprised. Then Scorpius stood up and stepped hard on Ian's foot. There was a small crack and Rose flinched— he had probably broken Ian's ankle.

Scorpius took advantage of Ian's inability to movie and rushed over to Rose. She struggled with him, weak, and he took out another vial of the poison. Then he held her nose, blocking both her nostrils and forcing her to open her mouth. Before Rose knew it, she was helplessly swallowing the poison. She looked at him with terrified eyes, barely able to move her hands as he tipped all of the poison down her throat.

And then miraculously, Scorpius fell forward upon her, unconscious and Ian crawled to her on all fours as quickly as he could. Rose pushed Scorpius away and threw up again. Her vision was blurring and a terrible, colicky pain was taking over.

Ian filled a goblet with his antidote and gave it to her. Before Rose could drink it, though, she had crashed to the floor, giving herself to the blackness.

"It's a wonder she's actually alive. With the amount of poison that she had taken in…"

There was a sob. Someone squeezed Rose's hand and Rose suddenly started to realise her surroundings. She was on a soft bed, covered in a warm, comfortable blanket.

With a gasp, Rose opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was her mother's face— swollen and blotchy. Her eyes were red too. "Mum…" Rose said weakly. "I'm okay."

"Rosie," Hermione whispered, kissing her forehead. Beside her were Rose's father and Hugo.

"Hi Dad," said Rose softly. "Guess you were right about Scorpius. A Malfoy is a Malfoy…"

Before her father could reply, Uncle Harry came into the room. He smiled at Rose. "Glad you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," replied Rose. "So what are you going to do to Scorpius and Bri?"

"Malfoy and Brianna?" Uncle Harry asked. He looked at Rose's father and understood at once. "Ron didn't tell you, did he?"

"I think you should explain it to her," said Ron. "You solved the case, after all…"

Uncle Harry shrugged and looked at Rose. "Well, Rosie, I think you'll be happy to know—" he winked at her, "that Malfoy and Brianna are both very innocent."

"Then who…?"

"It was Ian Murray."

Rose gasped. "What?! It can't be him! He was trying to save me."

"Quite conversely, he was trying to kill you," Uncle Harry said. "But, unlike Abby, whom he kept alive for a couple of months, he didn't want you alive for more than a few hours."

"Why would he want to kill me?"

"Well, didn't you confess to him this morning that you mixed some kind of a love potion with the water that Abby drank every night before sleeping?"

"Yes, but I felt the first symptoms of poisoning after breakfast. I was halfway through breakfast when I told him about it. There was no way that he had time to spike my juice. Plus, I did not get a weird taste from the juice."

"He apparently did have time when he dropped his bag and you bent over to pick it up for him. He decided to use just a little bit of poison to start off the symptoms, because he knew you'd go back to him for an antidote later."

Rose's eyes widened. "That was all planned?"

"I am afraid so."

"So is that how he poisoned Abby? A little bit of poison every day in her juice? No wonder the symptoms looked closer to pregnancy than poisoning!"

"I must admit, Ian was exceptionally clever with poisoning Abby. Even Malfoy thought that Abby was taking the poison orally, which was why he made Brianna mix a universal antidote with all her drinks. But no, Abby definitely didn't eat or drink the poison."

"How did Malfoy find out that she was being poisoned?"

"He overheard you and Al talk about Abby's symptoms and he wondered if she was getting poisoned. Brianna was the only one amongst your friends who was neutral with him, so he bought the antidote and asked her to pour some of it into Abby's drinks everyday, just in case."

"Why would he do that?" Rose wondered aloud.

Uncle Harry shrugged. "You'll have to ask him about it. He wouldn't give me a reason."

"So how did Abby get poisoned?" asked Rose.

Uncle Harry looked into his bag and fished out a transparent bag with something in it. "Recognise this?"

Rose squinted at the bag. Inside it was Abby's kohl stick. "Abby… applied kohl to her eyes daily," she said. "That was her favourite piece of makeup because Ian had given it to her."

"Yes," said Uncle Harry. "Ian told me that he had gifted her with this kohl stick when I asked him about it last evening. I guess he never thought I'd find out…"

Rose shook her head. "I don't understand. How did this result in Abby's death?"

"Ian's father works in some Muggle chemical-related factory. So I guess, one day in Christmas, by which time Ian wanted to eliminate Abby from his life completely, he went to his father's workplace as an excuse to pass some time there and nicked some lead salts from there. One of them was Lead sulphide, which he dabbed this kohl stick with. He used some kind of potion to get the right kind of concentration of Lead sulphide so Abby would die slowly but eventually. Lead sulphide is black too, so Abby obviously didn't realise she was poisoning herself everyday. On the last day, by which time Ian was too tired of her, he poured some Lead nitrate solution— the same that he poured into your goblet today— to get rid of her completely."

Rose's jaw had dropped completely by the time Uncle Harry was done with his explanation. "I— I can't believe this…"

"Well, it's the truth," said her uncle. "Even today, Ian gave you the poison when you asked him to brew you an antidote. After that, what Malfoy gave you was the real antidote, but you spat it out. You did drink it up the second time, but that wasn't enough to counter the poison. Thankfully, Ron and I came just in time to catch Ian before he force fed you more poison. You were unconscious and in a bad shape, though."

"Why did Ian cut himself, then? Why would he hurt himself?"

"Well, that's because your friend, Brianna didn't want to be with him anymore. He does have suicidal tendencies. Don't worry, they'll take care of all of that in juvenile prison."

Rose smiled. "Thanks for saving me Uncle Harry, Dad."

Uncle Harry smiled, while her father chuckled and said, "There's no need to thank me, Rosie, it's my job to save the world, you see. And with an excellent sidekick like your Uncle Harry…"

"Ron!" Rose's mother gave her father a sharp tap on his head.

"Ow, Hermione!"

"Don't lie to your kids!"

Rose's father glared at her mother. "If this is not the truth, Hermione, I don't know what is."

And then Rose lay back on her pillows and smiled as her parents started to bicker again. This was normal. This was good.

Nothing was normal. Everything sucked.

Rose was back in her dorm the next day and Bri still wasn't speaking to her, though she had apologised a million times. Al, James, Lily and Hugo were with her at all times, though, but they couldn't fill Abby's or Bri's void. There were more whisperings as Rose passed corridors now and a lot of people shamelessly approached her and tried to ask her about the entire case.

One day, Rose was studying in the Common Room as usual, when Al tapped her on the shoulder. Rose looked up to see a very reluctant Brianna standing behind him with her arms crossed. "I don't want to talk to her, Al," she muttered.

"You'll have to," said Al firmly. "There are three of us left as such, Bri. Let's stay together."

"Okay… since you say so…" she came forward to Rose. "I accept your apologies."

"Oh, Bri…" said Rose, her voice breaking. She stood up and hugged her best friend.

"Crybaby," sniffed Brianna, hugging Rose back.

"Ah, you hosepipes," said Al, hugging them both at once. They stayed like that for a long time.

The first Hogsmeade weekend which took place a couple of months after the entire Abby incident was a breath of fresh air— and a sad day at the same time. As Brianna and Rose walked through the street with Al's arms around both of them, they remembered how they used to have Ian and Abby for company and how they pulled Abby's leg each time. Those days had been different… but they'd never come back.

Neither of the three of them hated Ian, though; they felt sorry for him more than anything. They had just come to realise that he had always been very mentally disturbed and they had never realised that. Maybe if they had found out earlier and helped him, none of this would have happened.

"Didn't your parents used to be best friends at Hogwarts?" asked Brianna as they took the lane to the Three Broomsticks.

"Yep," replied Al. "My Dad and Rosie's parents were involved in all the Voldemort stuff." Brianna flinched and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Come on, Bri, he's _dead!_ We weren't even _born_ when he was there!"

"My Mum tells me not to say his name," said Brianna.

Al didn't reply to her as they entered the pub. They took a table and he went to get drinks, when Rose took advantage of his momentary absence. She bent closer to Brianna. "So when are you telling Al?"

"About what?"

"That you like him, silly!"

"Not anytime soon," said Brianna. "He was very fond of Abby, remember? I don't think he'll be interested in me yet."

"He fancies you. I just know it."

"You're lying."

"Why would I? Come on, Bri! You've gotta tell him!"

Brianna bit her lip and looked around. Then she smiled. "Okay, here's a deal— I'll tell Al about my feelings for him when you get back with Malfoy again."

Rose sighed. "No, Bri. Please leave it alone."

"Why?"

"I'm not allowed to date him! My father doesn't like it, remember?"

"You really think he'll object to it after Malfoy saved your life, Rosie?" asked Brianna.

"Yeah… maybe Dad won't object to it… but…"

"What is love without a bit of risk?" urged Brianna, winking at Rose. "Come on, Rosie…"

Rose sighed. "Okay, I'll tell him."

"Do it now!"

"What—?!"

"I'll tell Al…" Brianna gave her a promising wink.

"Okay," said Rose, just as Al came with three mugs of Butterbeer. Rose in the meantime, looked around and fortunately spotted Scorpius in a corner booth, alone. She stood up. "Here I go…"

Ignoring Al's confused stare, she walked right over to Scorpius's table and sat next to him. He was surprised to see her do that, but he didn't say anything. She put a hand on his. "Missed me?"

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Scorpius—"

"Rosie, please… it has taken me hell trying to get over you."

"Are you over me, then?"

He looked down. "No."

She asked him the question that she had been longing to ask him. "How— how did you know that Ian was poisoning me that day?"

He glanced at her, his grey eyes looking into her blue ones before replying. "I thought I saw Murray put something powdery into your goblet during breakfast, but I decided not to think so much because Murray did not look like he could have killed Clarke. Plus, it could have been sugar that he dropped into your juice. Then you walked off like that mid-way through during Potions and later, I saw you meet Murray and Potter and head off to the Room of Requirement with Murray— you looked really ill. When you did not come back, though, I got suspicious and decided to come and check on you and Murray. When I entered the Room of Requirement, I saw spotted next to the 'antidote' a vial full of a strange white powder and I knew Murray was poisoning you. We don't use inorganic matter in potions or antidotes."

Rose smiled at him. "So speaking of lacing people's goblets with potions, how come you pointed out to me that Bri was pouring that potion into Abby's goblet when you knew what it was?"

"I just wanted to divert your attention to the fact that Clarke was being poisoned for a long time. I hoped that you'd catch Flynn one day and get the potion checked, but you didn't do it."

"You could have just told me that you and Bri were secretly feeding Abby an antidote because you thought she was being poisoned."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, and why would you believe me? You were the one who suspected me in the first place."

She didn't have an answer to that. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

"Apology accepted."

Then she asked the last question in her mind. "Why did you try to save Abby from the poison?"

He looked away. "I wasn't concerned for Clarke. I only did it because you cared for her so much."

"Oh Scorpius…" before she knew it, Rose had leaned over and pressed her lips against his. He was caught with surprise but after a second, he was kissing her too. She felt his familiar lips send warm tingles through her and when they had broken apart, she rested her forehead on his. "I love you," she whispered. "I love you so much…"

A few tables away, Brianna saw Rose kissing Scorpius and grinned at her friend. Then she looked at Al and the grin turned naughty as she shut her eyes and locked lips with him. He responded enthusiastically and Brianna enjoyed every second of the very thing she had been waiting for, for so long now.

As they broke apart, Al smiled ecstatically at Brianna. "Took you long enough to do that."

"Me? It was you who was supposed to do it first, loser…" Then she bent forward and kissed him again. "But I do really, really like you…"

They entwined hands happily and sipped their Butterbeers as Rose and Scorpius joined them for a glorious evening and what they hoped would be a good future together. It had been a terrible, sad few months. Even then, though Abby was dead and Ian was gone, life went on. They, Rose, Scorpius, Al and Brianna would have to live it and face the obstacles when they came— even if it was something as trivial as a small fight between friends or something life-altering, like what they had just faced months ago. Running away or hurting anyone hadn't made anything easier; nor would it in the future.

**The End**

* * *

**End notes:**

*fingers crossed*

Well, I hope that at least a part of this wasn't expected! And that you guys enjoyed the ride!

Please review! Let me know what you think, of how the mystery unravelled, the plot, characters - anything... I'll be very happy. I do know that I have a few followers there, and I hope you lovelies would drop a word about how you liked the fic. :)

And this has a sequel (ScoRose, Al/Bri), of which I've completed five chapters. I'm stuck with a writer's block though. However, I'll post the chapters I've completed for now, and I hope you'll like that too! Oh, and that other fic is called 'Transcendent Affection'. :)

Also, if you enjoy ScoRose, I have another one called 'His Hero'. I don't have a single fixed canon for these two, so I keep experimenting with different situations. I also tend to pair Scorpius with a lot of other people, though I really think he's best with Rose. So if you like reading a Rose/Scorpius/Victoire (no, not in a threesome) or Scorpius/Hugo, you can always find them in my page. But my Scorpius/other people fics are usually the result of challenge prompts (I've got Hugo, Victoire and an OC there. I once wrote him with Lily too - for a friend, hehe).

Anyway. Thank you for reading! Byeeee! :D


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